Middle School Drinking: Who, Where, and When

Patterns of neuronal activation following ethanol-induced social facilitation and social inhibition in adolescent cFos-LacZ male and female rats

Alcohol-associated social facilitation together with attenuated sensitivity to adverse alcohol effects play a substantial role in adolescent alcohol use and misuse, with adolescent females being more susceptible to adverse consequences of binge drinking than adolescent males. Adolescent rodents also demonstrate individual and sex differences in sensitivity to ethanol-induced social facilitation and social inhibition, therefore the current study was designed to identify neuronal activation patterns associated with ethanol-induced social facilitation and ethanol-induced social inhibition in male and female adolescent cFos-LacZ rats. Experimental subjects were given social interaction tests on postnatal day (P) 34, 36, and 38 after an acute challenge with 0, 0.5 and 0.75 g/kg ethanol, respectively, and β-galactosidase (β-gal) expression was assessed in brain tissue of subjects socially facilitated and socially inhibited by 0.75 g/kg ethanol. In females, positive correlations were evident between overall social activity and neuronal activation of seven out of 13 ROIs, including the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, with negative correlations evident in males. Assessments of neuronal activation patterns revealed drastic sex differences between ethanol responding phenotypes. In socially inhibited males, strong correlations were evident among almost all ROIs (90 %), with markedly fewer correlations among ROIs (38 %) seen in socially facilitated males. In contrast, interconnectivity in females inhibited by ethanol was only 10 % compared to nearly 60 % in facilitated subjects. However, hub analyses revealed convergence of brain regions in males and females, with the nucleus accumbens being a hub region in socially inhibited subjects. Taken together, these findings demonstrate individual and sex-related differences in responsiveness to acute ethanol in adolescent rats, with sex differences more evident in socially inhibited by ethanol adolescents than their socially facilitated counterparts.

Patterns of neuronal activation following ethanol-induced social facilitation and social inhibition in adolescent cFos-LacZ male and female rats

Motives related to the enhancement of the positive effects of alcohol on social activity within sexes are strongly associated with alcohol use disorder and are a major contributor to adolescent alcohol use and heavy drinking. This is particularly concerning given that heightened vulnerability of the developing adolescent brain. Despite this linkage, it is unknown how adolescent non-intoxicated social behavior relates to alcohol's effects on social responding, and how the social brain network differs in response within individuals that are socially facilitated or inhibited by alcohol. Sex effects for social facilitation and inhibition during adolescence are conserved in rodents in high and low drinkers, respectively. In the current study we used cFos-LacZ transgenic rats to evaluate behavior and related neural activity in male and female subjects that differed in their social facilitatory or social inhibitory response to ethanol. Subjects were assessed using social interaction on postnatal days 34, 36 and 38 after a 0, 0.5 and 0.75 g/kg ethanol challenge, respectively, with brain tissue being evaluated following the final social interaction. Subjects were binned into those that were socially facilitated or inhibited by ethanol using a tertile split within each sex. Results indicate that both males and females facilitated by ethanol display lower social activity in the absence of ethanol compared to socially inhibited subjects. Analyses of neural activity revealed that females exhibited differences in 54% of examined socially relevant brain regions of interest (ROIs) compared to only 8% in males, with neural activity in females socially inhibited by ethanol generally being lower than facilitated subjects. Analysis of socially relevant ROI neural activity to social behavior differed for select brain regions as a function of sex, with the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens being negatively correlated in males, but positively correlated in females. Females displayed additional positive correlations in other ROIs, and sex differences were noted across the rostro-caudal claustrum axis. Importantly, neural activity largely did not correlate with locomotor activity. Functional network construction of social brain regions revealed further sex dissociable effects, with 90% interconnectivity in males socially inhibited by ethanol compared to 38% of facilitated subjects, whereas interconnectivity in females inhibited by ethanol was 10% compared to nearly 60% in facilitated subjects. However, hub analyses converged on similar brain regions in males and females, with the nucleus accumbens being a hub region in socially inhibited subjects, whereas the central amygdala was disconnected in facilitated subjects. Taken together, these findings support unified brain regions that contribute to social facilitation or inhibition from ethanol despite prominent sex differences in the social brain network.

Social influences on alcohol outcome expectancy development from childhood to young adulthood: A narrative review

Purpose of Review

Alcohol outcome expectancies emerge in early childhood, develop throughout adolescence, and predict alcohol outcomes well into adulthood. Social factors shape how expectancies are learned in myriad ways, yet such social learning influences seldom are examined in the context of developmental factors. This review summarized literature on the social origins of alcohol expectancies through vicarious (observational) and experiential (direct) alcohol-related learning from childhood to young adulthood within a social learning framework.

Recent Findings

Young children primarily endorse negative expectancies, which decline rapidly with age amidst escalations in positive expectancies across adolescence. Parents and peers can contribute to vicarious learning about alcohol and facilitate experiential learning in different ways and to varying degrees across development. Media and social media, which children are increasingly exposed to as they mature, often depict alcohol-outcome relations that may further contribute to expectancy development in later adolescence and young adulthood.

Summary

Social influences on alcohol expectancy learning are complex and change over time, although this dynamic complexity typically is not depicted in extant literature. Developmentally-informed research capturing co-occurring shifts in social influences and alcohol expectancies is needed.

Ecological momentary assessments of night-time drinking among California adolescents: bases for informing night-time preventive interventions

BACKGROUND AND AIM

To inform the development of effective night-time preventive interventions, our goal was to assess adolescents' residence (i.e. being at) and transitions across contexts during evening hours and risks for drinking and drinking-related problems in relation to contexts and to these transitions.

DESIGN

Ecological momentary assessment and survey methods.

SETTING

Twelve mid-sized cities (50 000-500 000 population) in California, USA from December 2014 to September 2015.

ANALYTICAL SAMPLE

A total of 153 adolescents (mean age = 16.4, 46.2% female).

MEASUREMENT

Initial conditions (e.g. past-year heavy drinking, gender, best friend's approval of drinking); adolescents' residence (i.e. being at) and transitions between (a) their own homes, (b) others' homes and (c) public spaces (e.g. restaurants, parks, concert venues) at early, middle and late evening hours; drinking in these contexts at early, middle and late evening hours; and drinking-related problems across evening hours.

FINDINGS

Risks for drinking were 23.5 times greater in others' homes (P < 0.01) and somewhat less in public spaces [odds ratio (OR) = 6.01, P < 0.01], compared with own home. Risks for problems in any evening time were elevated in relation to being in others' homes (OR = 2.37, P < 0.05) and public spaces (OR = 2.71, P < 0.01) versus at own home. Drinking in others' homes was related to 5.9 times increase in odds of transitioning back to own home (OR = 5.93, P < 0.05), 11.9 times increase in odds of remaining in others' homes (OR = 11.86, P < 0.01) or 7.3 times increase in odds of transitioning from others' homes to public spaces (OR = 7.3, P < 0.05). Initial conditions were associated with being in states, drinking and problems during evening hours and transitions across states.

CONCLUSIONS

In California, adolescents who are older, female, Hispanic or have greater spending money may be more likely to be outside their own home during evening hours than adolescents who do not match those criteria. In turn, being outside one's home during evening hours appears to be related to greater risks for drinking and drinking-related problems. Finally, transitions between contexts increased differential risks for drinking such that, for example, drinking in others' homes was highly related to transitioning to public spaces and less to returning to own home.

Relationships Between Social Host Policies, Youth Drinking Contexts, and Age

OBJECTIVE

We examined associations of city-level policies and enforcement operations (i.e., social host laws and party patrol operations) with youth drinking, heavy drinking, and drinking-related problems in private and public drinking contexts. We also examined whether these associations were modified by age.

METHOD

We surveyed 580 youth (ages 16-20 years; 53% male) living in 24 midsized California cities. We used mixed-effects negative binomial and logistic regression to calculate the frequency of youth drinking and heavy drinking and odds of drinking-related problems in each context (own home, friend's home, restaurant, bar, music venue, and outdoors).

RESULTS

There were positive associations between more comprehensive city-level social host policies and frequency of youth drinking and heavy drinking at music venues, and youth heavy drinking and drinking-related problems at restaurants. Younger youth who lived in cities with more comprehensive social host laws drank heavily less frequently in their own home than younger youth living in cities with less comprehensive social host laws. Youth ages 17 or under who lived in cities with more party patrol enforcement had higher odds of problems related to drinking outdoors in the past 12 months than those in cities with fewer party patrol operations.

CONCLUSIONS

City-level alcohol policies and enforcement targeting underage drinking may have differential effects depending on youth drinking contexts and age. Comprehensive social host policies, which aim to decrease drinking in private contexts, may displace or increase youth drinking in other contexts, such as restaurants and music venues. Comprehensive social host policies and party patrol operations may be more influential for younger youth drinking in their own home or outdoors.

Correlates of alcohol experimentation and drunkenness episodes among secondary-school students in Nigeria

Background: Alcohol is the most used substance among adolescents in Nigeria. While risk factors for alcohol use among adolescents are well documented in Europe and the US, they have received less attention in the literature on African countries. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with alcohol experimentation and drunkenness episodes in a national sample of Nigerian adolescents. Methods: A total sample of 4,078 secondary-school students participated in the survey during the school year 2015-2016. The survey involved 32 secondary schools of six geopolitical zones (South-South, South-West, South-East, North-Center, North-West, and North-East) and two metropolitan cities (Abuja and Lagos) of Nigeria. Sociodemographic characteristics, parental alcohol use and permissiveness, friends' alcohol use, risk perceptions and beliefs were investigated as correlates of alcohol experimentation and drunkenness episodes through multilevel, mixed-effect logistic regression models. Results: The prevalence of alcohol experimentation was 34.0%, while the prevalence of drunkenness episodes was 13.4%. Results showed that male gender, family structure different from both parents' families, parental and friends' alcohol use, parental permissiveness to drink, low risk perceptions on drinking alcohol, and positive beliefs on consequences of alcohol use were associated with an increased probability of alcohol experimentation and drunkenness episodes. Family affluence and one-parent family structure were related to an increased probability of alcohol experimentation but not of drunkenness episodes. Conclusions: The majority of risk factors analyzed in this study generalize across drinking-behavior outcomes. Since the young population is dominant in Nigeria, alcohol use could become a big public health problem in the near future. High investment in adolescents' well-being by addressing the factors that contribute to drinking behavior might help to reduce the burden of the problem. Evidence-based prevention curriculum addressing knowledge, risk perceptions, beliefs on consequences of alcohol use, and parental behaviors should be implemented as widely and early as possible.

Desire to drink as a function of laboratory-induced social stress among adolescents

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Research consistently demonstrates a link between social anxiety and alcohol-related problems; however, the majority of work has been retrospective, and conducted with adults. Despite an extensive literature highlighting coping-related motives as an underlying mechanism, real-time work presents mixed findings, and no published research has examined an adolescent sample using experimental psychopathology techniques.

METHODS

The current study tested whether (1) history of social anxiety symptoms positively correlated with alcohol-related cognitions following laboratory-induced social stress, (2) state anxiety was positively correlated with alcohol-related cognitions, and (3) whether the nature of the stressor (performance versus rejection) impacted the strength of identified relations, in a sample of community-recruited adolescents reporting recent alcohol use. Participants (n = 114; Mage = 16.01; 64% girls) were randomly assigned to either a performance- or rejection-oriented task.

RESULTS

Findings indicated that history of social anxiety symptoms was positively correlated with state anxiety elicited by both tasks. Further, history of social anxiety symptoms was not related to change in desire to drink, but was positively related to the belief that alcohol 'would make me feel better.' State anxiety was positively related to both desire to drink and relief outcome expectancies across both tasks. Finally, the nature of the task did not moderate responding.

LIMITATIONS

Single site, community sampling confines interpretations, and the tasks did not fully perform as expected.

CONCLUSIONS

Further study is needed; however, the current findings support the contention that socially-oriented distress may be a developmentally-relevant, malleable target for prevention efforts aimed at problematic alcohol use among adolescents.

The influence of negative mood on solitary drinking preference: An experiment with young adult solitary drinkers

Solitary drinking is a risk marker for alcohol use disorder; thus, it is important to identify why individuals drink alone and for whom this association is particularly relevant. Evidence suggests the desire to ameliorate negative affect (NA) motivates solitary drinking, with some individuals particularly likely to drink alone to cope, but all past studies are cross-sectional. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether 1) experimentally induced NA increased preferences to drink alcohol alone, and 2) whether the relationship between NA and choosing to drink alcohol alone was moderated by neuroticism, drinking to cope motives, and social anxiety. Current drinkers (ages 21-29) with a solitary drinking history (N=126) were randomly assigned to either NA, positive affect [PA], or no affect change (control) conditions via differing cognitive task feedback. After the mood manipulation, participants chose between drinking alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages in one of two contexts: alone or socially. Evidence regarding effectiveness of the mood manipulation was mixed, and few chose non-alcoholic beverages in either context. Condition did not influence outcome choice. Across conditions, increases in NA and the importance placed on receiving one's context choice were associated with solitary (versus social) alcohol preference. Neuroticism and its interaction with NA change also influenced choice; individuals high in neuroticism chose more solitary (versus social) drinking contexts while the opposite was true for those low in neuroticism, and among the latter, the preference difference was more pronounced with relatively smaller NA increases. Findings are discussed based on the existing solitary drinking literature.

Changes in Drinking Contexts over the Night Course: Concurrent and Lagged Associations with Adolescents' Nightly Alcohol Use

BACKGROUND

Examining underage drinking contexts can advance the field of adolescent substance use prevention by supporting and informing interventions that can target adolescents in specific contexts. The current study examines how concurrent and lagged situational (i.e., alcohol availability and adult supervision), social (i.e., the number of people and presence of friends), and location (i.e., home vs other location) context characteristics change risks for alcohol use over the night course.

METHODS

Text messages with links to online surveys were used to collect ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data over 2 weekends from adolescents in California. Data were collected using adolescents' personal cell phones early and late in the evening and the following morning. Analyses were limited to adolescents with at least 1 drinking occasion during EMA (N = 58; Mage = 16.64, SD = 0.74; 48% female; 83% White).

RESULTS

Drinking earlier in the evening was positively associated with continued drinking over the night course. Context characteristics were found to play important concurrent and lagged roles in increasing the likelihood of alcohol use over evening hours.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicated substantive concurrent and lagged social, situational, and location-based contextual effects on adolescent alcohol use over the course of an evening. Importantly, context characteristics were differentially associated with alcohol use over the course of the evening. The fact that these contextual factors are modifiable suggests that the use of prevention strategies delivered to adolescents throughout the evening may reduce adolescents' drinking and related problems over the evening hours.

Perceived Parental Knowledge and Adolescent Substance Use Outcomes

BACKGROUND

Whether parental permission of alcohol and other drug use in a home environment is protective against substance-related negative outcomes remains controversial. We investigated substance use at home, with or without parental knowledge, and its association with substance-related consequences.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 21,207 U.S. students in the 6th to 12th grades surveyed between 2009 and 2017. Substance use patterns and rates of negative outcomes were analyzed by comparing groups of participants who had not used at home, or had used at home with and/or without parental knowledge.

RESULTS

Adolescents who used substances at home without parental knowledge used alcohol and substances in greater amounts, and tended to have more negative outcomes than those who did not. Students who had not used at home or had used only with parental knowledge tended to have lower levels of use and negative outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Using at home without parental knowledge was a consistent risk factor for substance-related negative outcomes. These results highlight the importance of screening adolescents for the use of alcohol or drugs in the home without parental knowledge, as well as attempting to prevent substance use in the household.

Socio-economic differences in factors associated with alcohol use among adolescents in Slovenia: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

This paper aims to investigate the association of parental, friends, and personal factors with the risk of alcohol use in a sample of Slovenian adolescents, and whether these associations differ by socio-economic status of the school area (SES).

METHODS

The survey involved 2946 students of 44 Slovenian primary schools in the school year 2010/2011. The association between sociodemographic characteristics, parental alcohol use and permissiveness to drink, parental monitoring, perception of friends' alcohol use, beliefs towards alcohol, self-esteem and refusal skills, and the probability of recent alcohol use was evaluated through multiple multilevel logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Parental alcohol use, parental permissiveness to drink alcohol, low parental monitoring, perception of friends' alcohol use, positive beliefs towards alcohol use, and low refusal skills were significantly associated with the risk of alcohol use. Parental drinking and permissive attitudes were stronger correlates of alcohol use among adolescents of middle and low SES schools, while friends' alcohol use and personal factors among adolescents of high SES schools.

CONCLUSIONS

Alcohol prevention programs should be tailored to school socio-economic environment taking into account friends and personal determinants among high SES, and parental factors among low SES school students.

A systematic review of research on adolescent solitary alcohol and marijuana use in the United States

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Alcohol use and marijuana use tend to be social activities among adolescents. Some youth use alcohol or marijuana while alone. This article provides a framework for examining the risk factors for and consequences of solitary alcohol and marijuana use, grounded in a motivational model that emphasizes coping with negative emotions, and provides the first systematic review of research on solitary alcohol and marijuana use among middle school- and high school-aged adolescents in the United States.

METHODS

PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched. Articles were included if they mention solitary alcohol or marijuana (or illicit drug) use among adolescents aged 12-18 years. Studies on non-human animals, college students, non-English language publications and articles exclusively about solitary tobacco or inhalant use were excluded. Overall, 22 articles were selected.

RESULTS

Prevalence of adolescent solitary alcohol and marijuana use was relatively high (e.g. 14% life-time solitary drinking in the general adolescent population), particularly in high-risk subgroups (e.g. 38.8% life-time solitary drinking in a sample of youth recruited from clinical and community settings). Risk factors for solitary alcohol and marijuana use include earlier onset and heavier use, coping motives, negative emotions and positive expectancies about use. Solitary alcohol and marijuana use are prospectively associated with later substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms, diminished academic performance and perceived health.

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately 1 in 7 adolescents in the US appear to have engaged in solitary alcohol and marijuana use at some point. It is positively associated with extent of drinking and marijuana use, cop;ing motives, negative emotions, and positive expectancies, as well as subsequent SUD symptoms and poor academic and health-related outcomes.

Relationship between Substance Use and Socioeconomic Variables in Pennsylvania Adolescents: 2009-2017

Purpose: The goal of the current study is to analyze the substance use trends in Generation Z youth (in both middle and high school environments) and to determine if any correlation exists between substance use behaviors and demographic variables. Methods: Analysis is based on substance use data collected through the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) from 2009 to 2017 and the 2016 US census data. Results: Our results suggest that substance use in Gen Z adolescents is mainly linked to alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, vaping, and narcotic prescription drugs. Alcohol is the most prevalent high-risk substance used by 12th grade students with 69.8% of students having consumed alcohol over their lifetime. Vaping is the next highly used substance with 28.9% of students in 12th grade having vaped 30 day prior to the survey. There is a significant correlation among adolescents between smoking cigarettes and using smokeless tobacco. A student using either alcohol, cigarettes or smokeless tobacco is highly likely to use the other two substances as well. Adolescents from counties with a high Caucasian population were at high risk for cigarette and smokeless tobacco use, while the opposite held true for counties with a high number of foreign-born persons or higher Asian or Hispanic populations. Higher median household incomes and higher adult education levels in a county were both protective factors against smokeless tobacco use. Conclusions: Results of the study suggest that students start experimenting with high-risk substance use in early grades and to combat the prevalence, we suggest the importance of educating adolescents of the dangers of drug use in early grades.

Do Associations Between Drinking Event Characteristics and Underage Drinking Differ by Drinking Location?

OBJECTIVE

We investigated how associations between social and situational characteristics (number of people, adult supervision, group gender composition, group age composition, ease of alcohol access, and weekend) and underage drinking are moderated by the specific locations in which drinking occurs.

METHOD

Using a case-crossover design and retrospective surveys, a sample of 385 adolescents (mean age = 16.5 years; 47.3% female) from 24 mid-size California cities reported the last time they drank alcohol in a specific location (restaurant, outdoors, home) and the last time they were at the same type of location without drinking, as well as characteristics of each drinking and nondrinking event (N = 1,096 events).

RESULTS

Results of multilevel regression models indicated that perceived ease of alcohol access was associated with drinking across all locations (adjusted odds ratios [aORs] = 2.11-2.75, all p < .01). Weekend (vs. weekday) increased the odds of drinking outdoors (aOR = 3.75, p < .001) and in the home (aOR = 4.37, p < .001), as did a lack of adult supervision (aOR = 1.70, p < .05 for outdoors; aOR = 1.64, p < .01 for home). Larger groups (aOR = 1.06, p < .001) and being with older people (aOR = 2.28, p < .001) increased the odds of drinking in the home only. Significant cross-level interaction effects between location and group size (aOR = 0.96; p < .001), group gender composition (aOR = 0.78, p < .05), group age composition (aOR = 0.70, p < .01), ease of alcohol access (aOR = 0.88, p < .05), and weekend (aOR = 0.66, p < .05) suggested that these predictors were less significant in outdoor locations compared with the home.

CONCLUSIONS

Locations moderate the social and situational characteristics of events and are important for underage drinking. Results can inform targeted prevention efforts.

Real-time social stress response and subsequent alcohol use initiation among female adolescents

Adolescents who are particularly sensitive to social stress may be vulnerable to earlier alcohol consumption and related problems. Although a small literature supports this contention, previous studies mostly relied on retrospective self-report. The current study used discrete-time survival analysis (DTSA) to test whether real-time social stress responding (via laboratory induction) and social anxiety symptoms predicted 12-month alcohol onset in an alcohol-naïve sample of young female adolescents. Anxiety elicited by the task was expected to predict greater and earlier rates of alcohol incidence, particularly among girls with higher levels of self-reported social anxiety symptoms. Participants were 104 community-recruited girls (ages 12-15 years) who completed a modified Trier Social Stress Test and questionnaires; follow-up calls were conducted at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the laboratory visit. Self-reported anxiety was assessed in response to the stressor following acclimation (baseline), instruction (anticipation), and speech (posttask). By 12 months, 30.8% of the sample had consumed a full alcoholic beverage. The DTSA revealed that girls with higher levels of social anxiety and greater elevations in anticipatory (but not posttask) anxiety compared to baseline had earlier alcohol initiation. This is the first study to examine the role of both laboratory-induced anxious responding and retrospective reports of social anxiety as prospective predictors of alcohol incidence. These preliminary findings suggest that adolescent girls who are more sensitive to social stress may be at risk for experimenting with alcohol earlier than their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Social and situational characteristics associated with adolescents' drinking at party and non-party events

We investigated social and situational characteristics associated with adolescents' drinking at party and non-party events and whether these associations vary by party location (homes versus other locations). Ecological momentary assessment data were obtained over two weekends from 149 adolescents in California (46% female, M age=16.4years), using smartphone surveys administered early and late in the evening and the following morning. We assessed whether, where, and with whom adolescents drank alcohol. Social contexts with more people (RRR=1.05, p≤0.005) and with mixed gender composition (RRR=3.15, p≤0.05) were positively associated with increased risks of alcohol use at parties, but not at non-party events. Conversely, social contexts with friends were positively associated with alcohol use at non-party events (RRR=4.32, p≤0.005), but not at parties. Perceived access to alcohol was associated with increased risks for alcohol use at both party and non-party events, but the association was stronger for alcohol use at parties than non-parties (RRR=1.85, p<0.005 versus 4.01, p≤0.005). Additional analyses showed that contexts with mixed gender composition were positively associated with alcohol use at parties not in homes (RRR=11.29, p≤0.05), and perceptions of getting caught by parents or police were negatively associated with non-party alcohol use in homes (RRR=0.57, p≤0.005). This study identified social-ecological contexts of underage drinking parties, which are high risk settings for heavier drinking and other alcohol-related problems. Findings can inform context-based interventions to target these high-risk settings, whether at homes or other locations.

Exposure to Alcohol Content in Movies and Initiation of Early Drinking Milestones

BACKGROUND

Exposure to alcohol content in movies has been shown to be associated with adolescent use of alcohol, including earlier onset. This study examined the influence of movie alcohol exposure on subsequent alcohol onset, considering the social context (whether the movie was viewed with a friend or parent). We examined whether media's influence holds across a spectrum of early drinking milestones: sipping (but not consuming a full drink of) alcohol, consuming a full drink of alcohol, and engaging in heavy episodic drinking (HED).

METHODS

Data were taken from a sample of 882 middle school youth (52% female; 24% non-White) enrolled in an ongoing study on alcohol initiation and progression. Exposure to alcohol content in films was measured using a method that combines content analysis and random assignment of movie titles to youth surveys. The hazard of initiating alcohol use (sip, full drink, HED) as a function of exposure was estimated using survival analysis. Associations were adjusted for demographic, personality, and social influence factors known to be associated with both movie exposure and alcohol use.

RESULTS

Exposure to alcohol content was common. Hours of exposure prospectively predicted earlier onset of alcohol involvement across all outcomes. Viewing movies with friends appeared to augment the media exposure effect, in contrast to viewing movies with parents, which was not a significant predictor of initiation.

CONCLUSIONS

Exposure to alcohol in films is involved in the entry into early stages of alcohol involvement. Findings support further investigation into the role of the media in underage drinking, especially in the context of consuming media with friends and peers. Limiting media exposure and/or stronger Federal Trade Commission oversight of movie ratings should be a priority for preventing underage drinking.

Characteristics of drinking events associated with heavy episodic drinking among adolescents in the United States

PURPOSE

To examine associations between characteristics of drinking events and the quantity of alcohol consumed by adolescents in the United States.

METHODS

Analyses relied on 2011-2015 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The study sample included 8110 adolescents, ages 12-17years old, who drank alcohol in the past 30days. A logistic regression model, weighted for national estimation, was constructed to examine factors associated with heavy episodic drinking (HED; 5+ drinks for males, 4+ drinks for females) during the underage drinker's most recent drinking event. These models were adjusted for study year and individual characteristics, including past year drinking frequency, age of drinking onset, and demographic variables.

RESULTS

Buying alcohol off-premise or from another person and being given alcohol from non-parent social sources were associated with greater odds of HED compared to being given alcohol by one of their parents. Drinking alcohol at someone else's house or multiple locations were associated with heavier alcohol consumption compared to drinking at one's own home. Being older and an earlier age of alcohol onset were associated with greater odds of HED.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identifies contextual factors associated with HED by adolescents. Compared to global association studies, the findings from these event-specific analyses provide strong evidence of the environmental conditions that contribute to HED in American adolescents. Although no level of alcohol consumption is safe for adolescents, knowledge of event-level risk factors can inform targeted interventions.

Association between elementary school personality and high school smoking and drinking

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Among US high school students, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are associated with numerous concurrent and future harms. We tested whether multiple elementary school personality dispositions to behave impulsively can predict these addictive behaviors invariably across gender and race.

DESIGN AND SETTING

This longitudinal design involved testing whether individual differences on impulsigenic traits in elementary school predicted drinking and smoking 4 years later in high school in 23 public schools in Kentucky, USA.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1897 youth, mean age 10.33 at wave 1, drawn from urban, rural and suburban backgrounds.

MEASUREMENTS

Drinking and smoking frequency were assessed by single-item questions. The key predictors were impulsigenic traits measured with the UPPS-P Child Version impulsive behavior scale. Important covariates included were pubertal status, depression, negative affect and positive affect; each was assessed by self-report.

FINDINGS

Three personality traits measured in 5th grade, each representing different dispositions to engage in impulsive behavior, predicted drinking and smoking in 9th grade above and beyond other risk factors and 5th grade drinking and smoking. Specifically, urgency (b = 0.10, 0.13), sensation-seeking (b = 0.13, 0.07) and low conscientiousness (b = 0.14, 0.11) each uniquely predicted both high school drinking and smoking, respectively. There was no evidence that any trait predicted either outcome more strongly than the other traits, nor was there evidence that predictive results varied by gender or race.

CONCLUSIONS

Three personality traits (urgency, sensation-seeking and low conscientiousness), when measured in 11-year-old children, predict those children's drinking and smoking behavior individually at age 15. The effects are invariant across gender and race.

Adolescent drinking in different contexts: What behaviors do parents control?

Previous research suggests that the context in which drinking occurs contribute to specific alcohol-related problems. In the current study we assessed how often adolescents attended different contexts in which they could drink, how often they drank in those contexts, and whether drinking patterns and parental monitoring were related to alcohol use in those contexts. We collected survey data from 1,217 adolescents 15-18 years of age in 24 midsized California cities. Measures included past-year frequencies of attending and drinking in restaurants, bars/nightclubs, and outdoor places, typical hours spent at home (i.e., own home or someone else's home), perceptions of parental control and disclosure to parents about free time activities, and demographics. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to assess associations between drinking patterns, parental control, and disclosure and frequency of attending and drinking in specific contexts. There were large variations in attending contexts in which drinking could take place. More frequent drinking was related to less time spent at home, while heavier drinking was associated with more time spent at home. Parental control was related to less frequent attendance at bars/nightclubs, and disclosure to less frequent involvement in outdoor activities and spending more time at home. Among drinkers, frequencies of attendance were strongly related to frequencies of drinking in all contexts except the home. Parental control and disclosure were related to more frequent drinking at restaurants and exposure to bars/nightclubs and drinking at outdoor activities. Parental monitoring may reduce exposure to risks by shifting adolescent contexts for alcohol use.

Contextual influences on early drinking: Characteristics of drinking and nondrinking days

Research characterizing the adolescent drinking context is limited, often relies on samples of current drinkers reporting on recent/last or typical drinking experiences, and provides little information about the context of very early use. The present study uses repeated monthly assessments to describe the context of drinking days and matched nondrinking days to determine the unique risk associated with different drinking-related characteristics. Additionally, we used latent class analysis to empirically identify key configurations of drinking-related characteristics and both family- and nonfamily-related environmental characteristics (social context, physical location, source of alcohol). Data included 688 days (344 drinking days, 344 nondrinking days) from 164 middle-school students enrolled in a prospective study on drinking initiation and progression (62% female; 26% non-White, 11% Hispanic). Results supported 4 patterns: (a) heavier drinking occurring in a peer context, lighter drinking occurring in (b) a family context or (c) a peer context, and (d) drinking alcohol obtained at home without permission. Latent classes varied as a function of gender, age, peer norms, and parenting behaviors as well as alcohol type and perceived alcohol availability. Findings indicated that highly endorsed contexts were not necessarily the riskiest ones, and simply targeting an oft-reported source of alcohol, physical location, or social context may not be an effective strategy for reducing underage drinking. Additionally, although greater monitoring and anticipated parent reaction to drinking are typically protective against adolescent drinking, we found they were associated with parent-sanctioned drinking, suggesting the role of parenting practices must be considered in the context of drinking pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record

The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA): A Multisite Study of Adolescent Development and Substance Use

OBJECTIVE

During adolescence, neurobiological maturation occurs concurrently with social and interpersonal changes, including the initiation of alcohol and other substance use. The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) is designed to disentangle the complex relationships between onset, escalation, and desistance of alcohol use and changes in neurocognitive functioning and neuromaturation.

METHOD

A sample of 831 youth, ages 12-21 years, was recruited at five sites across the United States, oversampling those at risk for alcohol use problems. Most (83%) had limited or no history of alcohol or other drug use, and a smaller portion (17%) exceeded drinking thresholds. A comprehensive assessment of biological development, family background, psychiatric symptomatology, and neuropsychological functioning-in addition to anatomical, diffusion, and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging-was completed at baseline.

RESULTS

The NCANDA sample of youth is nationally representative of sex and racial/ethnic groups. More than 50% have at least one risk characteristic for subsequent heavy drinking (e.g., family history, internalizing or externalizing symptoms). As expected, those who exceeded drinking thresholds (n = 139) differ from those who did not (n = 692) on identified factors associated with early alcohol use and problems.

CONCLUSIONS

NCANDA successfully recruited a large sample of adolescents and comprehensively assessed psychosocial functioning across multiple domains. Based on the sample's risk profile, NCANDA is well positioned to capture the transition into drinking and alcohol problems in a large portion of the cohort, as well as to help disentangle the associations between alcohol use, neurobiological maturation, and neurocognitive development and functioning.

Moral Disengagement, Anticipated Social Outcomes and Adolescents' Alcohol Use: Parallel Latent Growth Curve Analyses

Moral disengagement is a social cognitive process that has been extensively applied to transgressive behaviors, including delinquency, aggression and illicit substance use. However, there has been limited research on moral disengagement as it relates to underage drinking. The current study aimed to examine moral disengagement contextualized to underage drinking and its longitudinal relationship to alcohol use. Moreover, the social context in which adolescent alcohol use typically occurs was also considered, with a specific emphasis on the social sanctions, or social outcomes, that adolescents anticipate receiving from friends for their alcohol use. Adolescents were assessed across three time-points, 8 months apart. The longitudinal sample consisted of 382 (46% female) underage drinkers (12-16 years at T1). Parallel latent growth curve analysis was used to examine the bi-directional influence of initial moral disengagement, anticipated social outcomes, and alcohol use on subsequent growth in moral disengagement, anticipated social outcomes and alcohol use. The interrelation of initial scores and growth curves was also assessed. The findings revealed that, in the binary parallel analyses, initial moral disengagement and anticipated social outcomes both significantly predicted changes in alcohol use across time. Moreover, initial anticipated social outcomes predicted changes in moral disengagement. These findings were not consistently found when all three process analyses were included in a single model. The results emphasize the impact of social context on moral disengagement and suggest that by targeting adolescents' propensity to justify or excuse their drinking, as well as the social outcomes adolescents anticipate for being drunk, it may be possible to reduce their underage drinking.

Adolescent Drinking Risks Associated with Specific Drinking Contexts

BACKGROUND

To identify drinking contexts toward which prevention efforts should be directed, associations of context-specific alcohol use (past-year frequency of drinking and heavier drinking in the context) with a range of alcohol-related problems were examined in a population sample of adolescents.

METHODS

A sample of youths (ages 15 to 18) residing in 50 medium-to-large California cities (n = 473 drinkers) was obtained. Respondents provided information about 7 past-year alcohol-related problems in 3 domains (physiological consequences, alcohol-related violence, and conflict/trouble) and the number of times in the past year they used 6 distinct drinking contexts (parties, restaurants/bars, parking lots/street corners, beaches/parks, respondent's home without parents, and someone else's home without parents). Context-specific dose-response model was estimated for each context using censored Tobit models with heteroskedasticity corrections.

RESULTS

Physiological problems were associated with more frequent drinking in 5 of 6 contexts. Heavier drinking in restaurants/bars/nightclubs (b = 0.22, SE = 0.10) and someone else's home without parents (b = 0.14, SE = 0.06) was associated with greater risk of violence. Conflict/trouble was associated with more frequent drinking in parking lots/street corners, declining at higher levels of drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

Certain drinking contexts are related to problems among youths, some because they are associated with frequent alcohol consumption and others because they are associated with heavier drinking. Identifying which drinking contexts are related to specific alcohol-related problems and why is an essential component of developing effective preventive interventions.

Longitudinal test of a developmental model of the transition to early drinking

This article reports on a longitudinal test of a developmental model of early drinking that specifies transactions among personality, learning, and behavior in the risk process. The model was tested on 1,906 children making the transition from elementary school to middle school across 3 time points: the spring of 5th grade, the fall of 6th grade, and the spring of 6th grade. In a transaction that has been referred to as acquired preparedness, individual differences in the trait positive urgency at the end of 5th grade were associated with increases in expectancies for social facilitation from alcohol at the start of 6th grade, which then predicted drinker status at the end of 6th grade. In addition, the alcohol expectancy and drinker status predicted each other reciprocally across time. Multiple factors appear to transact to predict early drinking behavior.

Who drinks where: youth selection of drinking contexts

BACKGROUND

Different drinkers may experience specific risks depending on where they consume alcohol. This longitudinal study examined drinking patterns, and demographic and psychosocial characteristics associated with youth drinking in different contexts.

METHODS

We used survey data from 665 past-year alcohol-using youths (ages 13 to 16 at Wave 1) in 50 midsized California cities. Measures of drinking behaviors and drinking in 7 contexts were obtained at 3 annual time points. Other characteristics included gender, age, race, parental education, weekly disposable income, general deviance, and past-year cigarette smoking.

RESULTS

Results of multilevel regression analyses show that more frequent past-year alcohol use was associated with an increased likelihood of drinking at parties and at someone else's home. Greater continued volumes of alcohol (i.e., heavier drinking) was associated with increased likelihood of drinking at parking lots or street corners. Deviance was positively associated with drinking in most contexts, and past-year cigarette smoking was positively associated with drinking at beaches or parks and someone else's home. Age and deviance were positively associated with drinking in a greater number of contexts. The likelihood of youth drinking at parties and someone else's home increased over time, whereas the likelihood of drinking at parking lots/street corners decreased. Also, deviant youths progress to drinking in their own home, beaches or parks, and restaurants/bars/nightclubs more rapidly.

CONCLUSIONS

The contexts in which youths consume alcohol change over time. These changes vary by individual characteristics. The redistribution of drinking contexts over the early life course may contribute to specific risks associated with different drinking contexts.

Antecedent predictors of children's initiation of sipping/tasting alcohol

BACKGROUND

Sipping or tasting alcohol is one of the earliest alcohol-use behaviors in which young children engage, yet there is relatively little research on this behavior. Previous cross-sectional analyses determined that child sipping or tasting is associated with the child's attitude toward sipping and with a family environment supportive of alcohol use, but not with variables reflecting psychosocial proneness for problem behavior as formulated in Problem Behavior Theory (Jessor and Jessor, Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1977, Academic Press, New York). This study extended these analyses longitudinally to identify antecedent predictors of the childhood initiation of sipping or tasting alcohol in a multiwave study.

METHODS

A sample of 452 children (238 girls) aged 8 or 10 and their families was drawn from Allegheny County, PA, using targeted-age directory sampling and random digit dialing procedures. Children were interviewed using computer-assisted interviews. Antecedent variables collected at baseline (Wave 1) were examined as predictors of the initiation of sipping/tasting alcohol in childhood (before age 12) among Wave 1 abstainers (n = 286).

RESULTS

Ninety-four children initiated sipping/tasting alcohol in a nonreligious context between baseline and turning age 12. Initiation of sipping/tasting did not generally relate to baseline variables reflecting psychosocial proneness for problem behavior. Instead, as found in the previous cross-sectional analyses, the variables most predictive of initiating sipping/tasting were perceived parents' approval for child sipping, parents' reported approval for child sipping, parents' current drinking status, and children's attitudes toward sipping/tasting alcohol.

CONCLUSIONS

These longitudinal analyses replicate the earlier cross-sectional results. Young children's sipping/tasting of alcohol reflects parental modeling of drinking and parental approval of child sipping and does not represent a precocious manifestation of a psychosocial proneness to engage in problem behavior.

Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Middle School: The Interplay of Gender, Peer Victimization, and Supportive Social Relationships

The current study examined the impact of supportive social relationships (i.e., teacher support, adult support, school relatedness) and peer victimization on middle school students' substance use. Over 3,000 middle school students reported on alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, supportive social relationships, and instances in which they were the victim of aggressive behavior. Mixed-effects logit regression analyses revealed complementary patterns of results across types of substances. Students who perceived high levels of social support were less likely to report alcohol and drug use initiation, particularly at low levels of peer victimization. Gender moderated the negative effect of peer victimization, with highly victimized boys most likely to report alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Results indicated a complex interplay of social influences and moderating variables in predicting early onset alcohol and other drug use, one that researchers should consider when studying adolescents' decisions to use alcohol and other drugs.

To drink or not to drink: motives and expectancies for use and nonuse in adolescence

Drinking motives have a prominent role in cognitive models of adolescent and adult alcohol decision-making (Cooper, Russell, Skinner, & Windle, 1992; Cooper, 1994). The complementary construct of motivation not to drink has received less attention (Epler, Sher & Piasecki, 2009). We examined how abstinence motives interacted with drinking motives and alcohol expectancies to predict alcohol consumption in samples of US high school students (N>2500). Nondrinking motives predicted lower rates of lifetime and current alcohol use. Motives not to drink interacted with specific drinking motives, like social and coping motives, and alcohol expectancies to predict certain aspects of drinking behavior. For example, motives not to drink had the greatest impact on youth with weaker social motivations. Findings highlight the distinction between motives not to drink and other alcohol-related cognitions in predicting adolescent alcohol consumption. This work not only supports the utility of this construct in developing models of youth alcohol-related decision-making but also has implications for prevention programming.

Friends or foes: social anxiety, peer affiliation, and drinking in middle school

OBJECTIVE

The relation between social anxiety and alcohol consumption suggests aspects of both risk and protection, but most research has focused on late adolescents and emerging adults.

METHOD

We investigated the synergistic impact of social anxiety, a need for affiliation with others, and perceived peer alcohol use on drinking in a sample of more than 1,500 early adolescents from southern California (48% girls). Via school-wide surveys, middle school students completed the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised, a modified version of the Interpersonal Orientation Scale, as well as measures of perceived peer drinking and self-reported lifetime and current drinking.

RESULTS

For socially anxious youths, high levels of perceived peer use in conjunction with high levels of affiliation need was associated with greater alcohol use on average and more frequent episodic drinking. Specific to heavy episodic drinking, the interaction of social anxiety and perceived peer drinking seemed to affect girls and boys differentially. Sex differences emerged for the moderation of social anxiety's influence on drinking initiation by perceived peer influence.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that alcohol-related risks associated with social anxiety might be gender specific and more important in earlier stages of alcohol use than previously believed.