The present study is, to our knowledge, the first systematic evaluation of gender-specific variations in the association between parent-child communication and substance use outcomes in a diverse and nationally representative sample. The prevalence rates of tenth grade adolescent substance use in this study were 18.2% for smoking, 48.5% for alcohol use, and 17.5% for marijuana use. These estimates were comparable to those in other national surveys during the same period of time. For example, the prevalence rates of smoking, alcohol and marijuana use reported by 2005 Monitoring the Future were 23.2%, 47.0%, and 19.8% respectively (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009).
