Change in Adolescents’ Alcohol-Use Patterns, From Non-Drinking to Non-Heavy Drinking or Heavy Drinking

Abstract

This study examined risk and protective factors at work when adolescents change from a nondrinking alcohol-use pattern to either non-heavy drinking or heavy drinking. Using a sample of 1,725 non-drinkers extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we conducted multinomial logistic regression and found that likelihood of change from non-drinking to non-heavy drinking was associated positively with safe neighborhood, female, peers' drinking, emotional maltreatment, and delinquent behaviors. We found a negative association between such likelihood and being African American. We found that likelihood of change from non-drinking to heavy drinking was associated positively with peers' drinking, depressive feelings, drug use, and repeating a grade(s) at school. We found a negative association between such likelihood and having a married mother, being African American or some other non-Hispanic minority ethnicity, and maternal supervision. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

The impact of negative and positive affect on craving, non-heavy alcohol use, and binge drinking in patients with alcohol use disorder and controls: An experience sampling method study.

“…This is due to NA and PA exhibiting a linear negative and positive association, respectively, with non-heavy alcohol use, though they are quadratically related to BD. Indeed, studies suggest that NA increases the risk for BD more so than for non-heavy alcohol use and that individuals who experience more NA are more likely to start BD (Cheng & Lo, 2015;Stene-Larsen et al, 2013). Second, it seems that non-heavy alcohol use could play a larger role in affect regulation in daily life than BD.…”

Parent-child Relations, Religiousness, and Adolescent Substance Use Disorders

“…The data have insufficient information on friends' substance use, for example, even though this is associated with most forms of adolescent substance use (Henneberger, Mushonga & Preston, 2021). A feasible pathway is from low-quality relations with parents to substance using peers, which in turn affects the likelihood of problem substance use (Cheng & Lo, 2015). Associating with substance using peers might also affect relations with parents and religious beliefs and practices (Hoffmann, 2014).…”

The Longitudinal Effects of Age of Alcohol Initiation on School Outcomes

“…Although the majority of youth who start drinking alcohol do not become problem drinkers, binge drinkers reported the highest rates of problem behavior, drug use, and poor grades (Tucker et al, 2003). Cheng and Lo (2015) found that the likelihood of changing from non-drinking to non-heavy drinking was positively associated with variables such a peers' drinking, emotional maltreatment, and delinquent behaviors.…”

“…The importance of how environmental and ecological contexts shape youth behaviors and outcomes have long been discussed in the literature (Ennett et al, 1997). Family, neighborhood, and school ecologies all can impact youth outcomes (e.g., Cheng & Lo, 2010, 2015; Ennett et al, 1997). Given the amount of time youth typically spend at school, the school context in particular could significantly shape the correlates, predictors, and outcomes commonly reported in the practice and research literature (Bacio et al, 2015).…”