The role that adolescent-parent communication played in the relationship between parental problem drinking and adolescent outcomes was more complicated. For girls, maternal and paternal problem drinking negatively influenced adolescent-mother communication, whereas only paternal problem drinking adversely influenced adolescent-father communication. Also, adolescent-father communication, but not adolescent-mother communication, in turn, predicted rule breaking and aggressive behaviors for girls. Adolescent-father communication was found to mediate the relationship between paternal problem drinking and girls' rule breaking behavior. For boys, only paternal problem drinking influenced adolescent-father communication. Parental-communication was not related to any of the outcome variables for boys.
