Maternal depression has been implicated in the development of adolescent substance use. Conceptualizing depression as a continuum, the aims of this study were to (a) understand the relationship between maternal depressed mood and risk factors associated with adolescent substance use; (b) understand the relationship between maternal depressed mood and level and growth in adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use assessed at multiple time points during adolescence; and (c) examine the unique and relative contribution of maternal depressed mood after taking into account contextual risk factors related to adolescent substance use. Participants were 792 children and their mothers. Latent growth modeling was used with adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use treated as ordinal variables. Child depressive phenomena and child antisocial behavior partially explained the relationship between maternal depressed mood and adolescent alcohol and cigarette use. Mothers' own substance use did not contribute to level or change in adolescent substance use after other risk factors were considered.
KeywordsAdolescent substance use; maternal depressed mood Maternal depression has been linked to poor developmental outcomes, including depression, conduct problems, and substance use, in children (Beardslee, Versage, & Gladstone, 1998;Downey & Coyne, 1990;Lewinsohn, Olino, & Klein, 2005). Among these problems, adolescent substance use is of special interest because most adolescents try alcohol, marijuana, or cigarettes during their high school years and because the potential long-term mental health consequences of substance use are severe (Brook, Brook, Zhang, Cohen, & Whiteman, 2002). We examine the relationship between exposure to maternal depressed mood during middle childhood and level and growth of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use during adolescence. Using a multiple risk factor model (Greenberg et al., 1999), we also examine the extent to which the relationship between maternal depressed mood and adolescent substance use is accounted for by parental substance use, child depressive phenomena, and childhood antisocial behavior.Research has shown that numerous risk and protective factors explain variance in adolescent substance use (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992). This is consistent with the concept of equifinality, the notion of multiple pathways leading to one outcome (Cicchetti & Rogosch, Correspondence regarding this article and requests for reprints should be directed to Rebecca C. Cortes, University of Washington, Department of Psychology, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195-1525; e-mail: rcortes@u.washington.edu; phone: 206-616-1236; fax: 206-685-3157. cnbflem@u.washington.edu, wamason@u.washington.edu, catalano@u.washington 1996), and also underscores the challenge for researchers and practitioners concerned with the development and prevention of adolescent substance use. In early and middle childhood, parenting factors are particularly important, as parents are the primary socializing agents f...