Consistent with recent research [38], time-varying estimates of parental disapproval of alcohol use in the full model were significantly protective for males, but the main effect was weak for girls (dependent on the inclusion of other variables). This finding was independent of the generally higher levels of parent disapproval of alcohol use among girls (Figure 1c). It is possible that parent disapproval of alcohol use was a weaker predictor of girls’ alcohol use because parent disapproval is more conditional on family emotional climate for girls than it is for boys. Further research is needed on the extent to which there are interactions between parent disapproval and the quality of the family relationship for girls compared to boys. While there may be more complex contextual factors that underlie the effect of parent disapproval on girls’ alcohol use, the results reinforce the important role that parents have in communicating expectations about alcohol use throughout the early to mid-teenage years [38].
