Thus, difficulties in the parent-child relationship may be a vital pathway through which various family factors influence child outcomes (Fauber, Forehand, Thomas, & Wierson, 2003). Future research regarding lifetime alcohol dependence among offspring of divorced parents should explore additional environmental influences occurring before parental divorce (e.g., parent conflict, parenting skills, child maltreatment history, parental psychiatric disorders), during the dissolution period (e.g., age of child at divorce, meaning of divorce to child), and after parental divorce (e.g., change in income, school, residence, parent-child relationship; parent reside with post divorce; gender match of parent-child; parental remarriage) that could possibly mediate or moderate offspring lifetime alcohol dependence (Jacob & Johnson, 1997; Jacob, Waterman, Heath, Bucholz, Haber, Scherrer & Fu, 2003; Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, Smailes & Brook, 2001).
