Parental rejection as a pathway to depression: Why fathers are important to the understanding of drinking behaviors

Sher’s (1991) model of deviance proneness suggests that alcohol disorders are impacted by the confluence of poor parenting and temperamental factors. One well known pathway to alcohol-related problems is through depression. This study sought to examine perceptions of parental relationships to stress and depression. Questionnaires regarding perceptions of rejection by one’s own parents, drinking behaviors, stress, and depression were administered to 332 (161 male, 171 female) college students. Correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the strengths of relationships among the variables. The findings revealed that perceptions of rejection by one’s own parents are related to specific pathways toward problematic drinking behaviors. Interestingly, rejection by one’s father was more problematic than rejection by one’s mother for both males and females