Parental functioning and adolescent marijuana involvement

This research aims to more closely examine associations between adolescent marijuana involvement and various aspects of parenting (i.e., parental discipline, parentchild communication, parent-child bond/attachment, and parental educational involvement) while taking into consideration early aggressive behaviors and deviant peer affiliation. While many studies have examined parenting and youth marijuana use, few have focused on discrete patterns of parenting behaviors and youth marijuana involvement.; Data for this study come from a second generation preventative intervention trial designed by the Baltimore Prevention Research Center. This longitudinal study has followed youth in Baltimore City Public Schools from their entrance into the first grade (1993-1994 school-year) through the past year. The sample was approximately 85% African Americans, and approximately 55% male.; Exploratory factor analysis and latent class analysis empirically derived a construct of 'parental functioning' from parent-reported data. The best fitting models supported four latent classes of parental functioning that were similar to Baumrind's classification of parenting styles. Authoritative (consistent discipline, good communication, warm parent-child bond), authoritarian (consistent discipline, poorer communication and/or parent-child bond), and permissive (inconsistent discipline) parents were identified. The fourth class represented parents who had a lower probability of educational involvement, but who otherwise resembled authoritative or authoritarian parents.; Multinomial logistic regression revealed that youth of permissive or authoritarian parents (compared to authoritative) were more likely to have used marijuana. Much of this association in the early years of follow-up (years 6-9) was diminished by the addition of youth early aggression to the model, however associations remained for older adolescents (follow-up years 10 and 11). Youth of authoritative parents were consistently less likely to be involved with marijuana.; Survival analysis revealed that youth of authoritative parents not only had less overall transitions into marijuana opportunities and use, but also experienced these events at a later age than youth of permissive or authoritarian parents.; To conclude, there are patterns of parenting behaviors that appear to be associated with adolescent marijuana involvement. Consistent with prior research, parents who combined consistent discipline practices with good parent-child communication and bond raise youth who demonstrate a lower probability of marijuana involvement.