While existing research has considered how interpersonal and family factors might be associated with substance use differentially in male and female adolescents, few studies have examined whether fathers and mother shave unique influences on adolescent substance use or whether these effects are gender specific. It is known that fathers are more likely to be seen as less effective, involved and significant than mothers in the context of family relationships (Stoker & Swadi, 1990; Williams & Kelly, 2005). Moreover, mothers were found to communicate with their children more openly than fathers (Rosnati, Lafrate, & Scabini, 2007). Consistent with these findings, Ackard and colleagues (2006) demonstrated that more girls than boys felt unable to talk to their father about problems, whereas boys and girls felt equally comfortable talking to their mother about problems. Based on these findings, it is of interest to delineate how fathers and mothers may play different roles in the association between parent-child communication and adolescent substance use in their sons and daughters.
