Parent-child communication's attenuating effects on Mexican early adolescents' perceived discrimination, depressive symptoms, and substance use

Utilizing general strain theory, we hypothesized that perceived discrimination would be positively associated with depressive symptoms, which in turn, would be associated with alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Second, we hypothesized that frequency of mother-child and father-child communication against substance use would attenuate the hypothesized effects. Longitudinal survey data were collected from 247 Mexican-heritage 6th- to 8th-grade students. As hypothesized, perceived discrimination was positively associated with depressive symptoms, which, in turn, were positively associated with alcohol use and marginally related to marijuana use. Regarding moderation, for Mexican-heritage early-stage adolescents with high frequencies of mother-child or father-child communication, depressive symptoms were not significantly related to alcohol and marijuana use, although associations were significant for adolescents low in either type of communication.