Maternal childhood adversity and adolescent marijuana use at age 17 years: The role of parental mental health and parenting behaviors.

Introduction: Children's risk for marijuana use may be linked to their parents' history of childhood adversity, yet little is known about the mechanisms underlying this link. This study examined whether maternal parenting behavior and mental health serve as mechanisms linking maternal childhood adversity to their children's marijuana use at age 17 years, by gender.

Methods: Data were from the Young Women and Child Development Study (59% male), a longitudinal panel study, which began in 1988 and followed mother-child dyads for 17 years (n = 240). Participants were recruited from health and social services agencies located in a metropolitan region of Washington State. Hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling in Mplus. Multiple-group analysis was conducted to evaluate potential gender differences.

Results: Results showed that maternal childhood adversity was associated with their mental health outcomes (β = .32, p < .001), which in turn was predictive of mothers' harsh parenting (β = .27, p < .01). Maternal harsh parenting behavior was then associated with their children's marijuana use at age 17 years (β = .34, p < .001). Multiple group analyses revealed that the path from harsh parenting to adolescent marijuana use differed across genders being only significant for boys (β = .42, p < .001).

Conclusions: The intergenerational impact of childhood adversity highlights the need for interventions that target both parents and children. This would support teen mothers with a history of childhood adversity to acquire skills and knowledge to help mitigate its impact on their parenting behaviors and offset risks for their children.