As parental alcohol use is a primary early exposure to alcohol for adolescents, it is important to understand how consequences may differ for adolescent males and females. The aim of this paper was to examine gender differences in the relationship between mother’s and father’s heavy episodic drinking, and its combination, and adolescent drinking.

This paper analysed data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. It found that both mothers’ and fathers’ heavy episodic drinking significantly increased the likelihood of adolescent drinking. Moreover, fathers’ heavy drinking was more strongly related to adolescent drinking for girls. However, there were no gender differences in the relationship between mothers’ drinking and adolescent drinking, and the combination of mothers’ and fathers’ drinking was not more risky than heavy drinking in either parent alone.

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