Prospective Associations of Actual and Perceived Descriptive Norms with Drinking Among Emerging Adults

Daily-level associations between alcohol use cognitions and normative perceptions among adolescents: An intensive longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is an important developmental period in which to understand the cognitive underpinnings of risky alcohol use. Normative perceptions, such as descriptive and injunctive norms, are one of the strongest and most consistent predictors in adolescent drinking research. Thus, it is essential to examine which drinking cognitions (e.g., attitudes, prototypes, perceived vulnerability) are associated with normative drinking perceptions using repeated daily-level data among adolescents. The present study assessed associations between drinking cognitions and normative perceptions using an intensive daily longitudinal design.

METHODS

Participants were ages 15-17 years (N = 306; 61.4% female; M_age (SD) = 16.0 (0.8)) who were part of a larger ecological momentary assessment study (EMA) on drinking cognitions and alcohol use. The study design consisted of a 3-week EMA burst design (8 surveys per week, up to 2x/day) that was repeated quarterly over the 12-month study. The present analyses used the afternoon assessment for all measures.

RESULTS

Our multilevel model results demonstrated that drinking attitudes, prototypes of a typical drinker, and perceived vulnerability were positively associated with both descriptive and injunctive drinking norms between individuals and within individuals across days.

CONCLUSIONS

Current findings have important clinical implications as they demonstrated how specific drinking cognitions were associated with variability in normative perceptions at the daily level. Findings support the delivery of intervention messaging to adolescents on days when drinking attitudes, prototypes of a typical drinker, and perceived vulnerability are elevated.

Mapping the complex causal mechanisms of drinking and driving behaviors among adolescents and young adults

BACKGROUND

The proportion of motor vehicle crash fatalities involving alcohol-impaired drivers declined substantially between 1982 and 1997, but progress stopped after 1997. The systemic complexity of alcohol-impaired driving contributes to the persistence of this problem. This study aims to identify and map key feedback mechanisms that affect alcohol-impaired driving among adolescents and young adults in the U.S.

METHODS

We apply the system dynamics approach to the problem of alcohol-impaired driving and bring a feedback perspective for understanding drivers and inhibitors of the problem. The causal loop diagram (i.e., map of dynamic hypotheses about the structure of the system producing observed behaviors over time) developed in this study is based on the output of two group model building sessions conducted with multidisciplinary subject-matter experts bolstered with extensive literature review.

RESULTS

The causal loop diagram depicts diverse influences on youth impaired driving including parents, peers, policies, law enforcement, and the alcohol industry. Embedded in these feedback loops are the physical flow of youth between the categories of abstainers, drinkers who do not drive after drinking, and drinkers who drive after drinking. We identify key inertial factors, discuss how delay and feedback processes affect observed behaviors over time, and suggest strategies to reduce youth impaired driving.

CONCLUSION

This review presents the first causal loop diagram of alcohol-impaired driving among adolescents and it is a vital first step toward quantitative simulation modeling of the problem. Through continued research, this model could provide a powerful tool for understanding the systemic complexity of impaired driving among adolescents, and identifying effective prevention practices and policies to reduce youth impaired driving.

Behavioral Willingness, Descriptive Normative Perceptions, and Prescription Stimulant Misuse among Young Adults 18-20

Objective: It is critical to gain further understanding of etiologic factors, such as descriptive normative perceptions and behavioral willingness, that are associated with prescription stimulant misuse (PSM) among young adults. Our primary hypotheses were that descriptive normative perceptions for PSM (i.e., perceptions of how much and how often others engage in PSM) and perceived peer willingness (i.e., perceptions of how open others are to PSM under certain circumstances) would be positively associated with higher willingness to engage in PSM, which in turn would account for significant shared variance with self-reported PSM. Method: Data were collected from a U.S. sample of 18-20-year-olds (N = 1,065; 54.5% females; 70.5% White) recruited for a larger study on alcohol-related risky sexual behavior. Results: Findings indicated higher descriptive normative perceptions and higher perceived peer willingness were associated with higher participants' willingness to engage in PSM. Participants' own willingness was positively associated with PSM. Finally, participants' own willingness to use, descriptive normative perceptions, and perceived peer willingness were associated with higher willingness to engage in PSM, which accounted for significant shared variance with self-reported PSM. Conclusions: Findings suggest the potential utility of personalized feedback interventions for PSM that focus on constructs such as descriptive normative perceptions and behavioral willingness.

Perceived Gender Match and Accepting Alcohol Offers From Peers in Emerging Adulthood

AIMS

Emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) has been associated with elevated alcohol use, yet little is known regarding gender identity and drinking contexts in this population. Our goals were to examine the effects of perceived gender match on alcohol use decision-making in social settings among emerging adults.

METHODS

Participants (N = 135; 64% white, 11 transgender) completed measures of alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies and motives, and the Collegiate-Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation using an established Internet panel. We conducted a series of univariate analyses to examine the relation between perceived gender match and behavioral willingness (BW) to accept alcohol in a social context.

RESULTS

Participants identifying as men were significantly more likely to accept offers of alcohol when compared with women. While men and women did not differ in terms of BW when participants perceived a gender-matched actor making the offer, when there was a gender mismatch, women had significantly lower BW when compared with men. Though transgender participants were more likely to endorse hazardous drinking behaviors, there were no observable effects of transgender identity on BW.

CONCLUSION

In this sample, we found that men have a higher BW for alcohol than women and that trans identified persons are at increased risk for alcohol misuse. These findings support the need for more research examining the effect of gender identity on patterns of alcohol use and decision-making in mixed-gender contexts for emerging adults.

Examining Associations Between Social Networking Site Alcohol-Specific Social Norms, Posting Behavior, and Drinking to Cope During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emerging research suggests that there may be important links between social networking site (SNS) use and alcohol consumption specific to COVID-19. In addition, substantial research indicates that descriptive normative perceptions are a strong predictor of drinking behavior more generally. However, less is known about SNS-specific norms and how they might be associated with health-related behavior. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to determine whether descriptive normative perceptions for alcohol posting related to COVID-19 on SNSs are associated with both personal SNS posting behavior and drinking to cope with COVID-19-related stress, among a sample of 587 adults (48.4 percent women; mean age = 48.7 years) across the United States. All study procedures were approved by the local IRB. Results indicate that perceiving same-age peers to be posting on SNSs about their alcohol use to cope with pandemic-related stress/boredom is associated with both an increased likelihood of making such postings oneself and increased drinking to cope with the pandemic. Results have important implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed to curb risky drinking during the pandemic and suggest that SNS behavior and norms should be incorporated into these strategies.

Cognitions and behaviors related to risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies among young adult women

This study assessed alcohol and sex-related cognitions and behaviors, including alcohol-related sexual expectancies, descriptive norms, and protective behavioral strategies, associated with women's risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. A national sample of young adults ages 18-20 years was subset to women who were capable of pregnancy and sexually active (n = 422). The outcome was risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancy as determined by contraceptive status and heavy-episodic drinking. SAS version 9.4 was used to estimate logistic regression models. Alcohol-related sexual expectancies related to enhancement were significantly associated with increased odds of alcohol-exposed pregnancy risk. In contrast, women who reported the use of more safe sex (non-condom related) protective behavioral strategies (e.g., talk to partner about birth control use) were at decreased odds of alcohol-exposed pregnancy risk. Future interventions to reduce the risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancies should consider alcohol-related sexual expectancies and safer sex protective behavioral strategies as leverage points.

Alcohol Use Trajectories Before and After Pregnancy Among Adolescent and Young Adult Mothers

BACKGROUND

Moderate to heavy alcohol use during pregnancy (≥3 drinks/occasion) is linked to a range of adverse offspring outcomes. Prior studies suggest that adolescent and young adult mothers may be particularly vulnerable to these risky drinking behaviors during and after pregnancy. This study used latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to examine changes in risky drinking from prepregnancy to postpregnancy and identified prepregnancy predictors representing cognitive and social factors to inform prevention.

METHODS

Participants included 432 adolescent and young adult mothers (aged 13 to 24; 78% Black) assessed annually since childhood in the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Participants prospectively reported frequency of risky drinking (≥3 drinks/occasion) in the year of pregnancy and 2 years before and after pregnancy, as well as social-cognitive risk factors for drinking (alcohol expectancies, drinking motives, caregiver, and peer alcohol use).

RESULTS

Approximately 11% of young mothers in this community-based sample engaged in risky drinking at least once a month during the year of pregnancy, with greater frequency observed for young adult (vs. adolescent) mothers. LCGA revealed 4 risky drinking trajectories across the perinatal period, including 3 relatively stable trajectories (low, moderate, and high frequency) and 1 distinct trajectory ("postpartum initiators") characterized by increased risky drinking post-childbirth. Peer alcohol use during and after pregnancy distinguished higher risk from lower risk trajectories, controlling for age, race, and age of drinking onset. Exposure to caregiver alcohol use and prepregnancy coping motives for drinking also elevated risk, but only for mothers who became pregnant in early adulthood (vs. adolescence).

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescent and young adult mothers show heterogeneous risky drinking trajectories from prepregnancy to postpregnancy. Pregnant women in the transitional age of early adulthood who report exposure to caregiver alcohol use, more friends who drink, and coping motives for drinking may have elevated risk for moderate-heavy drinking during the perinatal period and may benefit from targeted intervention.

Norms and Attitudes about Being an Active Bystander: Support for Telling Adults about Seeing Knives or Guns at School among Greater London Youth

A detailed understanding of the factors associated with support among youth for reporting a knife or gun at school to an adult is essential to inform violence prevention initiatives. However, no studies have empirically assessed attitudes about support for reporting among secondary school students in Greater London nor perceived norms about such support among peers. Thus, this study explores whether students misperceive peer norms about support for telling adults about seeing weapons at school. Anonymous surveys were completed by 7401 youth (52% female; 43% White; mean age 11.8 years) in school years 4-11 in 45 school cohorts in a greater London borough between 2007 and 2012. Students reported both personal support about reporting weapons to several categories of adults and whether they perceived most other students at their school to support reporting weapons to adults in each category. Most students (64-78% on average) in most cohorts personally thought that students should report seeing a weapon at school to head teachers, police/security guard, teachers/counselors, and parent/other adult relatives. However, 34-44% of students erroneously thought that the majority of their peers did not support reporting to these adults. Perceived norms predicted personal support for reporting, adjusting for the prevalence of actual support at one's school and other factors. Pervasive norm misperceptions about reporting may contribute to a less safe environment.

Alcohol-specific social comparison as a moderator of the norms-behavior association for young adult alcohol use

Research has indicated that individuals high in social comparison orientation (SCO) are more influenced by the behavior and perceived norms of others. However, despite research indicating that behavior is more closely influenced by and modeled on more socially proximal reference groups, most social comparison research to date has utilized global measures of social comparison. As such, research has not examined whether domain-specific (i.e. alcohol-specific social comparisons) and their relation with norms are more predictive of alcohol-related outcomes than global comparisons. As such, the present study aimed to determine whether the previously found relationships between global SCO, descriptive drinking norms and their interaction are still significant when accounting for alcohol-specific SCO and its interaction with descriptive norms in the prediction of drinking willingness and behavior. Results from 355 young adults age 18-20 indicated that the association of alcohol-specific SCO and its interaction with descriptive norms for drinking predicts alcohol-related outcomes (drinking willingness and alcohol consumption), but not alcohol-related negative consequences above and beyond global SCO. Thus, alcohol-specific SCO may be of particular importance when determining for whom normative based preventive interventions may be the most efficacious.