Sobel tests were used to examine whether family cohesion and adolescent-father communication mediated the relationships between parental problem drinking and adolescent externalizing behavior. For girls, family cohesion mediated the relationship between paternal problem drinking and rule breaking (c.r. = 2.73, p < .01) and the relationship between paternal problem drinking and aggressive behavior (c.r. = 2.46, p < .05). Adolescent-father communication also mediated the relationship between paternal problem drinking and rule breaking for girls (c.r. = 2.16, p < .05).
