Maternal closeness only partially accounted for the association between maternal problematic substance use and adolescent alcohol use, and did not affect the use of any other substances. There are a few possible explanations for this finding. First, the most prevalent substance used by females is alcohol (Johnston et al., 2010), and it is therefore possible that adolescents were modeling the substance used most often by their mothers. Similarly, alcohol is a readily available substance, making it easier for adolescents to use as a coping mechanism or with their peers. However, maternal problematic substance use may also have less of an impact on adolescents’ substance use, regardless of potential mediators. In our study, maternal problematic substance use was only directly associated with three of the six substances assessed.
