Building on cross-sectional research findings of gender differences in the impact of the family on alcohol use, this research is one of the first to demonstrate significant longitudinal lag effects that vary for early adolescent females versus males. Family environment influenced subsequent growth in alcohol use independent of autocorrelational and reverse effects. The key gender-specific finding was that emotionally close relationship with mothers was associated with less frequent alcohol use by girls (consistent with Hypothesis 1), and this effect appeared to operate through reducing girls’ exposure to high-risk peer networks (consistent with Hypothesis 2). A second finding was that parental disapproval negatively predicted alcohol use in boys, but the effect for parental disapproval on girls’ alcohol use was weak. These findings held after accounting for proximal (contemporaneous) variables, including peer alcohol use and family structure, and the intercorrelations of emotional closeness, family conflict, and parental disapproval (Table 1).
