The associations between life events and adolescent externalizing were also significant after controlling for both measures of parental externalizing behavior. Life events (B = 0.05, t(322) = 2.93, p < .01, R2 = 1.47%) were associated with higher adolescent externalizing after controlling for the main effect of parental antisocial behavior (B = 0.05, t(475) = 2.25, p < .05). Life events were also a significant predictor of adolescent externalizing (B = 0.06, t(321) = 3.09, p < .01, R2 = 1.66%) in the model that controlled for parental alcohol dependence symptoms (B = 0.03, t(474) = 1.20, p = .23). Thus, the results of this two-step analysis in the FinnTwin12 sample provide evidence for indirect effects whereby parental antisocial behavior and alcohol dependence symptoms predict a greater number of life events, which in turn predicts higher adolescent externalizing.
