Differential effects have been noted of the impact of maternal and paternal closeness on adolescents’ substance use (Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Madsen, & McNamara-Barry, 2008), and on the relationship between parental substance use and closeness on adolescent drinking (Zhang et al., 1999). Much of the previous literature has been conducted with substance-using mothers of adolescents (Barnard & McKeganey, 2004), and there is a dearth of research on the impact of fathers’ substance use on parenting and subsequent adolescent substance use. It is thus important to examine mothers and fathers separately when examining whether monitoring and closeness mediate the relation between parental and adolescent use.
