Introduction The purpose of this study is to ascertain the affects of drug-abusing fathers on the drug usage of their young adolescent children. A special targeted population were chosen for this study; they are the children of drug-abusing fathers who are HIV-positive or at risk for becoming HIV-positive. The major factors used to determine the dependent measure of adolescent marijuana use include certain drug abusing father attributes (i.e., illegal drug use, HIV status, and methods of coping), and adolescent personality which is directly affected by the father-adolescent relationship and environmental factors (see pathway to adolescent marijuana use). The focus of this paper will be on the influences of parent-child relationship, father's marijuana usage and HIV status of the father on the adolescent's marijuana use. These chosen domains (i.e., set of related variables) are a part of the study needed to determine the pattern of relationship between father drug use and adolescent drug use. This research is an extension of an earlier study of the psychosocial factors related to the AIDS-risk behaviors and methods of coping among male injection drug users [e.g., 1]. By focusing on the parental approach, it is hope that this information will allow a father to be a more effective parent and assist him in raising his children in a way that they wouldn't need to turn to drugs to cope with life's difficulties (i.e., having a drug abusing father that is at risk of becoming HIV positive). Methods Participants: Participants were male volunteers recruited from AIDS clinics and methadone maintenance treatment clinics, with a history of drug abuse (i.e., must have engaged in either injection drug use or another form of illicit drug abuse during the past five years). Only those volunteers who agreed to be interviewed along with one of their 13-20-year-old children were recruited for participation. In order to qualify for partic...