Alcohol-Specific Parenting, Adolescents' Self-Control, and Alcohol Use: A Moderated Mediation Model

Objective: There is convincing evidence that parental rules about alcohol are important in curbing adolescents' alcohol use. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which the direct link between alcohol-specific parenting and alcohol use is obtained. In this study, we investigated the mediating effect of adolescent self-control on the relationship between alcohol-specific rules and adolescents' drinking behavior and whether this mediation effect depends on the level of quality of communication. Method: A total of 883 adolescents participated in this longitudinal study at ages 13, 14, and 15 years. Results: Strict rules predicted lower rates of drinking, but no direct effect of the quality of communication on adolescents' alcohol use was found. A higher level of self-control was related to lower rates of drinking in adolescents. The indirect effect of rules about alcohol through adolescents' self:control was statistically significant, yet only in adolescents with high qualitative parent child communication about alcohol. In adolescents with low quality of parent child communication, self-control was not related to drinking. Conclusions: These findings imply that Strict rule setting in combination with qualitative parent child communication is an important target for prevention. In addition, findings point at the importance of high qualitative parent child communication for adolescents' motivation to engage in self-control to avoid drinking