Sample characteristics are presented in Table 1. Consistent with existing literature, a higher percentage of adolescents reported difficulty in communicating with father (53%) than with mother (33%). In analysis across gender, more males (53%) indicated ease in communicating with their fathers than females (41%), χ2= 17.64, p < 0.01. A comparable percentage of males (69%) and females (65%) reported easy communication with their mothers. No gender differences were observed in ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status and family structure. Prevalence rates of smoking, drinking and marijuana use in the past 30 days were 18.2%, 48.5%, and 17.5 % respectively for the overall sample. No gender differences were observed in smoking or alcohol use. A slightly higher percentage of males (20%) used marijuana than females (15%), χ2= 6.51, p = 0.08, although this difference did not reach statistical significance. Approximately 79% of the sample came from a two-parent family. A description of responses to the question regarding family structure is presented in Table 2.
