<p>The current study extends our understanding of parental risk of early alcohol use by further examining the impact of parental psychological control and perceptions of parental attitudes about substance use on risk for early alcohol use while also considering individual risk factors (i.e., symptoms of depression and proactive and reactive functions of aggression) in a sample of rural youth. Additionally, the potential interactive effects of risk factors were evaluated. Middle school students residing in a rural community (<i>N</i> = 292, 49% female) completed self-reported measures. While all risk factors were associated with increased risk of alcohol use at the bivariate level, parental psychological control and proactive aggression were not uniquely associated with risk for alcohol use in regression analyses. No interaction effects were evident. Thus, it appears that perceived parental attitudes are more robustly linked to risk for early alcohol use than parental psychological control, and these effects are over and above individual risk factors. Further, the impact of perceptions of parental attitudes on risk for early alcohol use does not depend on individual risk factors.</p>