Parenting Styles as a Moderator of the Association between Pubertal Timing and Chinese Adolescents’ Drinking Behavior

Background: Previous work has indicated that pubertal timing and parenting styles are associated with adolescents’ drinking behavior, but studies on the relationship between the above three variables are lacking.

Methods: Participants were 1408 Chinese adolescents aged 11–16 years old (46.52% girls). The data emphasized pubertal timing, parenting styles, drinking behavior, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the adolescent and his or her family.

Results: Early pubertal timing was related to drinking behavior; however, parenting styles played a moderating role. For male adolescents, father emotional warmth, mother rejection, and mother emotional warmth moderated the relationship between early pubertal timing and drinking behavior. For fe-male adolescents, mother rejection, mother emotional warmth, and mother over-protection moderated the relationship between pubertal timing and drinking behavior.

Conclusions: Parenting styles that include emotional warmth, rejection, and over-protection appear to influence the negative outcomes associated with early pubertal timing, and may be useful in reducing adolescents’ drinking behavior.