two limitations, future studies should examine the associations between parent-child communication and substance use outcomes longitudinally, and provide greater incentive to reduce missing data. In regards to the third limitation, our use of past 30 days substance use, rather than lifetime substance use, as the outcome variables minimized potential recall errors in self report (Brener, Billy, & Grady, 2003). Research also indicates good reliability and validity for self reported data concerning adolescent risk behaviors(Kentala, Utriainen, Pahkala, & Mattila, 2004; Levy et al., 2004).
