Discrepant Parent-Adolescent Reports of Parental Monitoring And Their Relations to Cannabis Use Among Justice-Involved Youth

Increased parental monitoring is protective against cannabis use (CU) for justice involved youth, although discrepancies across parent/adolescent reports of monitoring may confer risk. Baseline data were drawn from two randomized clinical trials (152 adolescents; M(age)= 15.9; 68% male). Adolescents reported on past 60-day CU and adolescents and parents completed a measure of parental knowledge, parental solicitation, parental control, and child disclosure. Multiple regression models that varied operationalization of discrepancies were performed, in which CU was predicted from each monitoring construct. Inclusion of main effects of parent and adolescent reports improved prediction of CU, particularly parental knowledge and child disclosure. When operationalized categorically, discrepancies improved prediction of CU for parental knowledge. Discrepancies did not improve prediction of CU for the other aspects of parental monitoring. Findings diverge from previous research on adolescent alcohol use; explanations of findings and implications for treatment are discussed.