The effects of parenting on the development of adolescent alcohol misuse: A six-wave latent growth model

Alcohol use increases throughout adolescence. Based on family socialization theory, it was hypothesized that family factors, particularly parental sup port and monitoring, would influence individual trajectories in the develop ment of alcohol misuse. Six waves of data were analyzed, based on interview s with 506 adolescents in the general population of a northeastern metropol itan area. Using growth-curve longitudinal analysis, results show that pare nting significantly predicts adolescents' initial drinking levels (intercep ts) as well as their rates of increase in alcohol misuse (slope). This stud y provides evidence that effective parenting is an important factor in prev enting alcohol misuse.