Our findings demonstrate the importance of parenting practices as contributors to the transmission of substance use from parents to their offspring. Findings showed that, for mothers, closeness played an important role in adolescent alcohol use, and partially accounted for the association between maternal problematic substance use and adolescent alcohol use. However, we did not find any differences with regard to gender, race/ethnic or living arrangement in the relationship between closeness and adolescent substance use. These findings speak to the importance of adolescents’ connectedness to their mothers, who are often regarded as the parent who is most likely to provide emotional support and nurturance, as well as to engage in conversation and shared activities during early childhood and adolescence (Crouter & McHale, 1993; Waizenhofer, Buchanan, & Jackson-Newsom, 2004). Having a reduced sense of closeness with their mothers, above and beyond the influence of parental monitoring, may contribute to adolescents’ experimentation with substances as a method of coping with their lack of connection. Alternatively, substance-using adolescents may distance themselves emotionally from their mother in order to conceal their risky behavior.
