ABSTRACT
Depression is increasingly common among adolescents, and suicide stemming from depression is the third leading cause of death among 15 to 19-year-olds in the United States (Hallfors et al., 2004) and the second leading cause of death worldwide for 15 to 29-year-olds (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). Adolescents with depression are at greater risk for serious episodes of depression in adulthood and are more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2011). The thesis of this chapter is that a social psychological analysis of parent-child relations, coupled with the study of factors that tend to exacerbate precarious mental states (e.g., drug use and attendant conflict, school failure, parental conflict, etc.) may provide information useful in ameliorating this problem, a major threat to the health of society (Crano & Donaldson, 2018). We review the epidemiological evidence, along with the parental monitoring literature in the chapter, with specific reference to drug misuse in youth. In addition, we review new findings linking parental monitoring and warmth with adolescent drug use and depression. Although parental influences on adolescent depressive symptoms and marijuana use have been examined independently, their interrelation remains seriously understudied. We contend and test the possibility that depressive symptoms have significant indirect effects on parental warmth, monitoring, and marijuana use. Our research suggests that parental influence may play an unintended facilitative role in marijuana use among adolescents, and marijuana use, in turn, appears linked to exacerbated depressive symptoms among youth.
