Children influence the parenting they receive, yet little research captures the operation of bi-directional processes operating between family members (O’Connor, 2002). Adolescents who smoke or drink regularly may incur parents’ disapproval that in turn is linked to decreased expressions of warmth and affection by parents and increased family conflict (Shelton et al., 2008). More generally, negative behaviour by adolescents such as poor self-regulation and antisocial behaviour elicits negativity from parents, with implications in turn for psychological functioning (Brody & Ge, 2001; O’Connor, Deater-Deckard, Fulker, Rutter & Plomin, 1998). In the adolescent years, therefore, the associations between parent-child relationship quality and adolescent substance use are likely to unfold in a complex, transactional fashion.
