drinking. Although we did not expect authoritarian parenting to be more protective than balanced parenting, this finding is consistent with findings reported in other studies that found children of authoritarian parents had a greater likelihood of better outcomes as compared with children of balanced/authoritative parents (e.g., Rudy & Grusec, 2006). This finding on the protective nature of authoritarian parenting is noteworthy because it is contrary to most of the findings on parenting style and adolescent alcohol use. Thus, our finding raises a question for further exploration: Is a parenting style that tends to be stricter and less flexible (e.g., authoritarian parenting) the most effective parenting style in helping to prevent adolescent problematic drinking, such as HED and binge drinking? It is plausible that a balanced parenting style, containing warmth and reasoning traits, is more effective for preventing experimental and recreational drinking (i.e., drinking behaviors that are often consider normative for adolescents). Authoritarian parenting, with strict discipline and supervision traits, may be more effective for more excessive and problematic drinking such as HED and binge drinking. Authoritarian parenting traits have been shown to have stronger protective effects against more risky behaviors such as delinquent behaviors and substance use (Pettit, Laird, Dodge,
