How Does Parental Monitoring Reduce Adolescent Substance Use? Preliminary Tests of Two Potential Mechanisms

. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test two nonexclusive mechanisms by which parental monitoring might reduce teen substance use. The first mechanism (M1) is that monitoring increases punishment for substance use since parents who monitor more are more likely to find out when substance use occurs. The second mechanism (M2) is that monitoring directly prevents/averts teens from using substances in the first place for fear that parents would find out. Method: A total of 4,503 teens ages 11-15 years old in 21 communities across the United States completed a survey reporting on parents' monitoring/ knowledge and teens' substance use. Results: We found no support for M1: Parents with greater parental monitoring were not more likely to be aware when the teen had used substances (odds ratios = 0.79-0.93, ps = .34-.85), so they could not have increased the rate of punishment. We