Perceived family support, negative mood regulation expectancies, coping, and adolescent alcohol use: evidence of mediation and moderation effects

Depressed mood in childhood and subsequent alcohol use through adolescence and young adulthood

CONTEXT

Despite prior evidence supporting cross-sectional associations of depression and alcohol use disorders, there is relatively little prospective data on the temporal association between depressed mood and maladaptive drinking, particularly across extended intervals.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the association between depressed mood in childhood and alcohol use during adolescence and young adulthood by mood level and sex and race/ethnicity subgroups.

DESIGN

Cohort study of individuals observed during late childhood, early adolescence, and young adulthood.

SETTING

Urban mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

Two successive cohorts of students from 19 elementary schools have been followed up since entry into first grade (1985, cohort I [n = 1196]; 1986, cohort II [n = 1115]). The students were roughly equally divided by sex (48% female) and were predominantly African American (70%). Between 1989 and 1994, annual assessments were performed on students remaining in the public school system, and between 2000 and 2001, approximately 75% participated in an interview at young adulthood (n = 1692).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Among participants who reported having used alcohol, Cox and multinomial regression analyses were used to assess the association of childhood mood level, as measured by a depression symptom screener, with each alcohol outcome (incident alcohol intoxication, incident alcohol-related problems, and DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence).

RESULTS

In adjusted regression analyses among those who drank alcohol, a high level of childhood depressed mood was associated with an earlier onset and increased risk of alcohol intoxication, alcohol-related problems during late childhood and early adolescence, and development of DSM-IV alcohol dependence in young adulthood.

CONCLUSIONS

Early manifestations associated with possible depressive conditions in childhood helped predict and account for subsequent alcohol involvement extending across life stages from childhood through young adulthood.

Windows of opportunity: fundamental concepts for understanding alcohol-related disparities experienced by young Blacks in the United States

This paper presents a theoretical framework for conceptualizing alcohol-related disparities experienced by young Blacks in the United States. The framework highlights areas of risk and opportunity as they relate to the development of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. In this paper, life course development theory serves as a guide for identifying a critical period in the development of alcohol-related disparities and it serves to guide the identification of opportunities to prevent or attenuate this health outcome. We also highlight concepts from ecosocial theory, resilience theory, and prevention science that advance our understanding of risk and protective factors for the social problems that young Blacks experience related to alcohol use. We conclude with suggestions for designing studies that range from etiology to preventive interventions. We also recommend methodologies that allow for more nuanced understandings of the etiology and prevention of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems experienced by young Blacks than have been available to date.

Korrelate von Alkoholwirkungserwartungen im Jugendalter

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Positive Alkoholwirkungserwartungen stellen ein bedeutsames Risiko für problematischen Alkoholkonsum dar. Ziel dieser Studie war die Identifikation der Korrelate positiver Alkoholwirkungserwartungen (AE) im Jugendalter. Methode: 311 Jugendliche (Alter 12-18 Jahre) einer Allgemeinbevölkerungsstichprobe wurden bezüglich der Familiengeschichte einer Alkoholstörung (FHalk), Verhaltensproblemen, Zugehörigkeit zu einer substanzkonsumierenden Peergoup und Ausmaß an positiven AE untersucht. Ergebnisse: Kinder aus Familien mit Alkoholstörungen wiesen dann ausgeprägte positive AE (oberstes Terzil) auf, wenn sie zusätzlich ein hohes Ausmaß an Verhaltensproblemen hatten (Odds Ratio (OR): 6.5; 95% Konfidenzintervall (KI): 1.3-32.6). Jugendliche mit aggressiven und delinquenten Verhaltensproblemen zeigten positivere AE im Vergleich zu Jugendlichen ohne Verhaltensprobleme vor allem bezüglich Spannungsreduktion (OR: 2.0; KI: 1.1-3.6) und sozialer Kompetenz (OR: 2.3; KI: 1.3-4.3), während die Zugehörigkeit in einer substanzkonsumierenden Peergroup mit hohen Erwartungen an soziales Wohlbefinden (OR: 2.3; KI: 1.4-3.7) und Kompetenz (OR: 2.0; KI: 1.1-3.6) assoziiert war. Schlussfolgerungen: Präventions- und Interventionsprogramme zur Veränderung von Einstellungen zu Alkohol sollten speziell auf Jugendliche aus Hochrisikogruppen zugeschnitten werden, wobei sowohl individuelle Merkmale als auch Aspekte der familiären und nicht familiären Umwelt berücksichtigt werden müssen.

Generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation predict change in anxiety and depression among college students

Negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, or the beliefs held by individuals that, when faced with various manifestations of stress and negative affect, they can successfully cope with such mood states, have proven to be a most useful construct in the context of better understanding self-regulatory processes. In the present prospective study, we examined the predictive utility of NMR expectancies with respect to its ability to predict residual change in both depressive and anxiety symptoms over an 8-week timeframe in a sample of 322 college students. Initial correlational analyses revealed that, as anticipated, NMR expectancies were negatively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptomatology, as well as with maladaptive coping style. Conversely, NMR expectancies were positively associated with self-reported adaptive coping. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, even when controlling for age, sex, baseline levels of affective distress (depression or anxiety), and coping styles, NMR expectancies predicted change in both depressive and anxiety symptomatology. Implications of the findings pertinent to theory building and testing are discussed.

'I drink spirits to get drunk and block out my problems...' beverage preference, drinking motives and alcohol use in adolescence

AIMS

To investigate among adolescents whether (i) drinking motives are related to beverage preference; (ii) beverage preference is related to alcohol use (drinking levels and risky drinking occasions); (iii) the association between beverage preference and alcohol use is moderated or mediated by drinking motives.

METHOD

Data from a national representative sample of 5379 8th-10th graders in Switzerland (mean age 15.1, SD = 0.95) were analysed using multiple regression analyses. Beverage preference was based on the proportion of a specific beverage in the total amount of drinks consumed at the last drinking occasion. Drinking motives were assessed by the drinking motive questionnaire revised (DMQ-R).

RESULTS

A significant positive association was found between enhancement motives and a preference for beer and spirits; the association was negative with regard to a preference for wine and alcopops. Conformity motives were positively related to a wine preference but negatively to a beer preference. Only a preference for beer and spirits was significantly associated with alcohol use in models that exclude motives. However, the association between beer preference and adolescent alcohol use was mediated by drinking motives. A preference for alcopops and spirits was moderated by motives: social drinkers who preferred alcopops drank less than those who did not prefer alcopops. Coping drinkers who preferred spirits drank more than those who preferred other alcoholic drinks.

CONCLUSIONS

Drinking motives are potential explanatory factors for the association between beverage preference and alcohol use. Prevention approaches should target coping motives, particularly for adolescents who show a preference for spirits.

Conceptualizing and testing random indirect effects and moderated mediation in multilevel models: new procedures and recommendations

The authors propose new procedures for evaluating direct, indirect, and total effects in multilevel models when all relevant variables are measured at Level 1 and all effects are random. Formulas are provided for the mean and variance of the indirect and total effects and for the sampling variances of the average indirect and total effects. Simulations show that the estimates are unbiased under most conditions. Confidence intervals based on a normal approximation or a simulated sampling distribution perform well when the random effects are normally distributed but less so when they are nonnormally distributed. These methods are further developed to address hypotheses of moderated mediation in the multilevel context. An example demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed methods.

Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) expectancies, mood, and affect intensity among clients in substance disorder treatment facilities

Negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity were examined by means of self-report questionnaires in 158 volunteers, including 99 clients enrolled in addiction treatment programs. As expected, addicts reported significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity and lower levels of NMR compared to non-addict controls. NMR was negatively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity. The findings indicate that mood self-regulation is impaired in addicts. Low NMR and high affect intensity may predispose to substance abuse and addiction, or alternatively may reflect chronic drug-induced affective dysregulation.

Replication and validation of the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised (DMQ-R, Cooper, 1994) among adolescents in Switzerland

This paper has two aims: (1) to replicate the four-dimensional structure of the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised (DMQ-R) in a national representative sample from Switzerland, and (2) to validate the relevance of distinguishing drinking motives by inspecting the relations with expected consequences, alcohol use, and alcohol-related and other problems. Confirmatory factor analysis and linear structural equation models were estimated based on answers of 5,617 8th to 10th graders (mean 15.1 years; SD = 0.95). The results confirm the four-dimensional factor structure in general and among subpopulations defined by gender, age, and linguistic region. It could also be confirmed that enhancement motives followed by coping motives were strongly related to alcohol use and heavy drinking, whereas conformity motives were negatively related. Coping motives were related to problems independent of whether they were assessed as alcohol-related or not, while enhancement motives were associated solely with alcohol-related problems. In sum, the results demonstrate the robustness of the DMQ-R and its usefulness for assessing drinking motives among European adolescents from different cultural backgrounds.