Socio-environmental influences on adolescents' alcohol outcome expectancies: a prospective analysis

AIMS

To investigate the prospective influence of social influence and social bonding variables on the development of alcohol outcome expectancies among adolescents with and without drinking experience.

DESIGN

Longitudinal data from students in the control schools of a field trial designed to evaluate a school-based drug prevention program.

SETTING

A total of 19 middle schools in South Dakota, USA.

MEASUREMENTS

An alcohol outcome expectancy scale administered to 1410 students in grades 8 and 9. After using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to develop an expectancies measure, multiple-group (grade 8 drinkers versus grade 8 non-drinkers) path analysis was used to model 9th grade alcohol expectancies. Grade 8 social influence and bonding variables were used as predictors, controlling for grade 8 expectancies.

FINDINGS

At the bivariate level, peer and adult influences and social bonding variables were related consistently to alcohol outcome expectancies among drinkers and non-drinkers. A bivariate relationship between alcohol advertising and alcohol expectancies was found among drinkers only. In the multivariate model, greater alcohol use by important adults predicted independently increased alcohol positivity among drinkers; greater perceived approval of alcohol use by parents and peers predicted diminished perceived potency of alcohol among non-drinkers. Advertisement exposure and social bonding variables were not independent predictors of alcohol expectancies in the multivariate model.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that attempts to alter adolescents' alcohol expectancies are likely to fail unless they address the influence of immediate social models on these beliefs.

Alcohol expectancy multiaxial assessment: a memory network-based approach

Despite several decades of activity, alcohol expectancy research has yet to merge measurement approaches with developing memory theory. This article offers an expectancy assessment approach built on a conceptualization of expectancy as an information processing network. The authors began with multidimensional scaling models of expectancy space, which served as heuristics to suggest confirmatory factor analytic dimensional models for entry into covariance structure predictive models. It is argued that this approach permits a relatively thorough assessment of the broad range of potential expectancy dimensions in a format that is very flexible in terms of instrument length and specificity versus breadth of focus.

Alcohol expectancies in late childhood: an ambivalence perspective on transitions toward alcohol use

BACKGROUND

Late childhood has been identified as a critical transition period in expectancies about alcohol use, but much previous theorising has been based on the assumption that the transition involves a simple shift from negative to positive. This paper addresses the possibility that young people entertain more complex alcohol-related expectancies, and are increasingly aware of both negative and positive consequences of consumption.

METHOD

Expectancies were measured in a sample of 233 primary school children aged 8, 10, and 12 years. Colour photographs of alcohol and non-alcohol items were presented in three conditions: item only, single adult, mixed group.

RESULTS

Consistent with the ambivalence model of alcohol use (Breiner, Stritzke, & Lang, 1999), children endorsed both positive and negative alcohol expectancies. There was a main effect for grade with older children endorsingalcohol expectancies more than younger children. At all ages, children's positive alcohol expectancies were higher than negative ones for wine and champagne, but the reverse was found for beer. Compared to non-alcohol stimuli, differences between positive and negative expectancies were much smaller for alcohol stimuli, indicating a more balanced or ambivalent expectancy configuration that was unique to alcohol.

CONCLUSIONS

Results are discussed with reference to motivational models of alcohol use that emphasise the role of ambivalence, and an integration of this ambivalence perspective with information processing theories of alcohol expectancy development is offered.

The Drinking Context Scale. A confirmatory factor analysis

The current article examines the development and validation of the Drinking Context Scale through the use of confirmatory factor analysis. The scale measures the self-reported likelihood of excessive drinking across a number of specific social-cognitive drinking contexts. Five-hundred-and-five college students adjudicated for breaking university drinking rules filled out the anonymous questionnaire. Three factors including convivial, intimate, and negative coping contexts were confirmed, and these factors demonstrated good reliability and evidence of concurrent validity with other substance abuse indices, including the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the College Alcohol Problem Scale. Implications for the DCS as an assessment tool for prevention and early intervention with young people are discussed.