Relationship satisfaction and communication among urban minority HIV-positive and HIV-negative women: The influence on adolescent alcohol use

Background: Family communication provides the foundation through which children acquire skills and competencies related to substance use negotiation; parent-child communication about alcohol and parent-child relationship satisfaction are therefore considered critical in managing adolescent substance use. Here we explored the extent to which maternal HIV status, mother-daughter relationship and maternal beliefs about alcohol communication influenced alcohol communication and daughters' alcohol use.

Methods: This work uses a family expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine alcohol communication among 176 minority women and the influence of this communication on their daughters' alcohol use. Path analyses by maternal HIV status indicated significant differences.

Results: Relationship satisfaction was associated with control beliefs for both HIV-positive (â = 0.545, p < .001) and HIV-negative (â = 0.557, p < .001) mothers. Control beliefs were associated with communication for both HIV-positive (â = 0.364, p < .01) and HIV-negative (â = 0.310, p < .05) mothers; behavioral beliefs were associated with communication among HIV-negative mothers (â = 0.20, p < .05). Relationship satisfaction was indirectly related to daughter's alcohol use in HIV-positive dyads (â = 0.153, p < .05).

Conclusion: In families with interfamilial and environmental stressors, investing in the mother-daughter relationship, in part by discussing issues related to alcohol use is protective in nature. Families will need to be supported in discussing past behaviors, familial disruptions, and proximal and distal pressures. Parents can be supported in sharing with their children goals and hopes for them, as well as providing opportunities for their children to share pressures (actual or perceived) from peers, community, and media.