Current mother and father alcohol use were each composites of five variables indexing self-reported alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences in the past six months (Donovan, 1993). These included 1) the summed frequency of beer, wine, and liquor use, with item responses ranging from (1) did not drink (this beverage) to (11) every day; 2) the highest typical quantity of alcohol use (i.e., across beer, wine, and liquor); 3) frequency of consuming 5+ drinks in one sitting; 4) frequency of being drunk or “very, very high” on alcohol; and 5) the mean frequency of 11 alcohol-related negative consequences (e.g., “In the past six months, how many times have you missed work or had to call in sick because you had been drinking?”). These five variables were each z-scored and averaged for mothers (α=.80) and for fathers (α=.83). Current mother and father mental health were measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis and Melisaratos, 1983; Derogatis and Savitz, 2000), a 53-item self-report measure on which each parent indicated the presence of distress from symptoms of psychiatric disorders in the past
