The Influence of Parental Monitoring and Peer Substance Use on the Relationship Between Depressed Mood and Alcohol-Related Problems in Adolescents

Background and Purpose: Parental monitoring has been identified as a protective factor, and peer substance use/tolerance of use as risk factors, for alcohol-related problems in adolescents. Some research has shown peer associations have a more profound impact, but others have found parents exert more influence. These conflicting findings may be due to individual differences in emotional and behavioral characteristics of adolescents, for example, depressed mood. The purpose of this study was to test the association between depressed mood and alcohol-related problems in adolescents, and to test whether parental monitoring and/or peer use/tolerance of use moderate the strength of this relationship. We hypothesized that depressed mood would be positively related to alcohol-related problems. We also hypothesized that parental monitoring would buffer, and peer-related factors would exacerbate, alcohol-related problems for adolescents with depressed mood.

Methods: Participants included 227 adolescents (51.5% female) between 13-17 years old (M = 15.36, SD = 1.26 years) recruited from a hospital emergency department and the surrounding community in the northeastern United States. Alcohol-related problems were examined using the Adolescent Drinking Inventory (ADI), depressed mood was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), peer use/tolerance of use was assessed using the Peer Substance Use and Peer Tolerance of Substance Use scales, and parental monitoring was measured using the Strictness/Supervision Scale (SSS). Hierarchical linear regression was used to test hypotheses.

Results: In Step 1 of the regression model, all variables except for age were significantly associated with alcohol-related problems. Higher levels of depressed mood, greater peer use/tolerance of use, and lower parental monitoring were associated with more alcohol-related problems, supporting the first hypothesis. When interactions were added to the model to test the second hypothesis, the interaction between depressed mood and parental monitoring was significant, with the model accounting for 47% of the variance, while the interaction between depressed mood and peer use/tolerance of use was not. In the context of low parental monitoring, higher levels of depressed mood were significantly associated with more alcohol-related problems (β = .33, t = 4.58, p < .001). However, when parental monitoring was high, the relationship between depressed mood and alcohol-related problems was non-significant (β = .08, t = 1.00, p = .32).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings from this study were consistent with previous studies demonstrating associations between depressed mood and alcohol-related problems among adolescents. The second hypothesis was partially supported. While peer use/tolerance of use did not significantly moderate the relationship between depressed mood and alcohol-related problems, parental monitoring did. Specifically, parental monitoring buffered problems related to drinking for adolescents with higher levels of depressed mood. At low levels of depressed mood, parental monitoring did not affect adolescent drinking problems. These findings point to the importance of clinicians treating depressed adolescents to examine the role of alcohol use in the origin and/or maintenance of the depressed mood. Although individual therapy is typically the first line of treatment for depressed adolescents, when alcohol use is noted, parenting practices may be an important target of intervention for these depressed adolescents.