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The focus of this study was social (i.e., family and peer) influences on substance use from early adolescence to early adulthood. A large, ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents (N = 998) was followed from age 12 to age 23. We tested direct and indirect effects of parental monitoring, family relationship quality, and association with deviant peers on change in substance use across time. Outcomes for tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use were analyzed as separate pathways within the same overall model. The results suggest that a significant shift in the nature of family influence occurred across adolescence and into early adulthood, but deviant peer influence was relatively consistent across this period. Specifically, parental monitoring and deviant peer association were predictive of substance use in early adolescence, but family relationship quality was a significant predictor across the transition to high school and generally continued to predict use into later adolescence, as did association with deviant peers. Deviant peers were the only significant predictor in early adulthood. Our results also suggested that parental monitoring and family relationship quality indirectly predicted later substance use by way of deviant peers, implying that an important aspect of the family context is its influence on choice of friends and peer group composition. Implications for family-based prevention and intervention are discussed.

The middle school years are a period of increased risk for youths' engagement in antisocial behaviors, substance use, and affiliation with deviant peers (Dishion & Patterson, 2006). This study examined the specific role of parental monitoring and of family relationships (mother, father, and sibling) that are all critical to the deterrence of problem behavior in early adolescence. The study sample comprised 179 ethnically diverse 6th grade (46% female) students who were followed through 8th grade. Results indicated that parental monitoring and father-youth connectedness were associated with reductions in problem behavior over time, and conflict with siblings was linked with increases in problem behaviors. No associations were found for motheryouth connectedness. These findings did not differ for boys and for girls, or for families with resident or nonresident fathers.Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding the developmental processes that escalate youths' antisocial behaviors and substance use, because of the strong implications these problems have for adolescent health and their impact on society at large (Dishion & Patterson, 2006). The middle school years are a particularly risky period during which the convergence of antisocial behaviors, experimentation with substances, and affiliation with deviant peers may culminate and rapidly develop into firmly rooted problems. Parenting processes and relationships among family members are also changing during this time. Youths tend to spend less time with their families, feel less close to them, and receive less supervision and monitoring from their parents (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984;Dishion, Nelson, & Kavanagh, 2003;Hill, Bromell, Tyson, & Flint, 2007). Although this is a developmentally normative shift, it is critical that youths remain connected with their families to receive guidance and support as they negotiate difficult social, emotional, and cognitive challenges during this period of life (Hill et al., 2007).In an effort to better understand these developmental processes, our research and that of others has focused on the significant relationships in youths' lives. Among the general themes of existing literature on adolescence is that significant relationships with caregivers, peers, and siblings either serve to protect them from engaging in problem behavior or disrupt development and lead to later problems such as substance use and deviant peer affiliation. Studies have shown that family relationships that are supportive and close reduce the risk of youth substance use and problem behavior (Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Madsen, & Barry, 2008), and family management skills applied during this period can either impede or exacerbate adolescent problem behavior. Other studies have revealed that relationships with deviant peers and siblings are linked with increases in substance use, including both alcohol and drug use (Dishion & Owen, 2002;Stormshak, Comeau, & Shepard, 2004). However, few studies have examined parenting skills and the qual...

This study draws on the family systems concepts of triangulation and wholism to investigate how interparental conflict may affect adolescents' psychological adjustment. An ethnically and socioeconomically diverse samplẽ N ϭ 388! of 14-to 18-year-olds completed measures of interparental conflict, family relationships, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. We found that triangulation into parental disagreements mediated the association between parental conflict and both internalizing and externalizing problems. Adolescents exposed to more frequent, intense, and poorly resolved conflict were more likely to feel triangulated, but this association was moderated by the nature of the alliances they had with their parents. Specifically, at low levels of interparental conflict, adolescents who had substantially stronger alliances with one parent than the other reported greater triangulation than those with more balanced alliances. At high levels of conflict, these groups reported similar degrees of triangulation. We also found that supportive parent-child relationships reduced adolescents' appraisals of threat and self-blame for interparental conflict, while more empathic relationships with siblings increased these appraisals. Finally, close relationships with fathers acted as a protective factor that reduced symptoms of maladjustment.

Emotional, cognitive, and family systems processes each have been identified as mediators of the association between interparental conflict and children's adjustment. However, little is known about how they function in relation to one another because they have not all been assessed in the same study. This investigation examined the relations among children's exposure to parental conflict, their appraisals of threat and blame, their emotional reaction, and triangulation into parental disagreements. One hundred fifty ethnically diverse 8-12 year-old children and both of their parents participated in the study. Comparisons of three models proposing different relations among these processes indicated that they function as parallel and independent mediators of children's adjustment. Specifically, children's self-blaming attributions and emotional distress were uniquely associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas perceived threat uniquely predicted internalizing problems and triangulation uniquely predicted externalizing problems. KeywordsInterparental Conflict; Triangulation; Appraisals; Distress Reactions; Internalizing Problems; Externalizing Problems; Psychological Adjustment; Cognitive Contextual Framework; Family Systems Theory Efforts to understand the impact of interparental conflict on children have identified several factors that may explain how exposure to chronic, hostile, and poorly resolved conflict can lead to adjustment problems. Specifically, children's appraisals of threat and blame, their emotional reactivity and distress, and triangulation into parental disagreements each has been shown to mediate the relationship between parental discord and child maladjustment (e.g., E. M. Cummings, Schermerhorn, Davies, Goeke-Morey, & J. S. Cummings 2006;Davies, Harold, Goeke-Morey, & Cummings, 2002;Grych, Harold, & Miles, 2003;Grych, Raynor & Fosco, 2004). This research provides insight into different aspects of children's responses to interparental conflict, but is limited in that most studies have examined only one of these factors. Consequently, it is not clear how they are interrelated and which may have unique relations with child adjustment problems. To develop a more thorough understanding of the effects of parental conflict on children, it is important to build Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gregory M. Fosco, Department of Psychology, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI, 53201-1881. E-mail: Gregory.Fosco@Marquette.edu, Phone: (414) 288-3487, Fax: (414) 288-6073.. Gregory M. Fosco, Department of Psychology, Marquette University; John H. Grych, Department of Psychology, Marquette University Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any res...