We found inconsistent support for our first hypothesis that easy communication with father and mother would be protective against adolescent substance use. Easy communication with mothers was negatively associated with smoking among sons and easy communication with fathers was negatively associated with marijuana use among sons, but easy parent-adolescent communication was otherwise not associated with adolescent substance use. Our findings are in contrast to the literature that has found that the frequency and quality of general parent-child communication is negatively associated with adolescent substance use (Kafka & London, 1991; Stoker & Swadi, 1999; Ackard, Neumark-Sztainer, Story, & Perry, 2006).
