Exposure to Parental Alcohol Use Rather Than Parental Drinking Shapes Offspring's Alcohol Expectancies

Abstract

Background: Alcohol expectancies (AE), that is, the anticipated effects of alcohol, start developing early in childhood and are important predictors of alcohol use years later. Whereas previous research has demonstrated that parental drinking relates to children's AE, this study aims to test whether exposure to parental alcohol use mediates the link between parental alcohol use and positive and negative AE among children (6 to 8 years) and early adolescents (12 to 15 years).Methods: Longitudinal multi-informant family studies were conducted in the Netherlands among children (Study 1 (2015 to 2017): N = 329; 48.9% boys; M age = 4.6) and adolescents (Study 2 [2015(Study 2 [ to 2018: N = 755; 45.6% boys; M age = 11.3). Fathers' and mothers' alcohol use in terms of quantity and exposure (i.e., the frequency of alcohol use in 9 family-specific situations), and offspring's AE were collected using online questionnaires.Results: Structural equation modeling conducted in the full sample and separately by gender revealed the following: For children, no associations were found in the full sample. However, genderspecific results indicated that fathers' exposure was associated with (and mediated) favorable AE. Among adolescents, fathers' exposure was associated with (and mediated) social and coping AE (both boys and girls) and enhancement AE (only boys). Contrastingly, neither mothers' alcohol use nor its exposure was associated with any AE. Although different associations were found by offspring's gender, strong evidence for gender differences was lacking.Conclusions: This study indicates that, for specific expectancies, exposure to fathers' alcohol use shapes offspring's cognitions about the effects of alcohol, rather than fathers' alcohol use in general. Prevention efforts could focus on lowering the degree to which fathers expose their drinking, which might be more easily changeable than drinking in general.

Effects of Observable Parent Alcohol Consequences and Parent Alcohol Disorder on Adolescent Alcohol Expectancies

“…While these studies test the effects of parent drinking on expectancies, only one recent study has attempted to look at mechanisms of this association. Smit and colleagues () found that more exposure to paternal alcohol use (e.g., observing alcohol use at a family party, at dinner) mediated the effect of father drinking on childhood alcohol expectancies (Smit et al, ), predicting fewer negative expectancies among boys and greater positive expectancies among girls. However, when assessing the same question in adolescents, Smit and colleagues () found that exposure to paternal drinking mediated the effect of paternal drinking on a variety of positive but not negative alcohol expectancies.…”

“…Smit and colleagues () found that more exposure to paternal alcohol use (e.g., observing alcohol use at a family party, at dinner) mediated the effect of father drinking on childhood alcohol expectancies (Smit et al, ), predicting fewer negative expectancies among boys and greater positive expectancies among girls. However, when assessing the same question in adolescents, Smit and colleagues () found that exposure to paternal drinking mediated the effect of paternal drinking on a variety of positive but not negative alcohol expectancies. Taken together, these findings suggest that exposure to parent alcohol use may be more important in predicting negative expectancies in childhood but positive expectancies in adolescence, when drinking initiates.…”

Adolescents’ Food Purchasing Patterns in The School Food Environment: Examining the Role of Perceived Relationship Support and Maternal Monitoring

“…Indeed, Dutch adolescents aged 12-14 years receive 15-20 euros (which equals an amount of 16.5-22 US dollars) per month from their parents, and their budget increases with age as they may also generate income by means of a holiday or secondary job [41]. In future research, it would be worthwhile to further explore how adolescents' food purchasing behavior in the school food environment may increase with age, linking current data with future waves of the longitudinal lifestyle cohort study [31,32]. This also holds for potential differences between boys and girls, and those with a lower versus higher educational background, as these were also found to be associated with adolescents' food purchases in the school food environment.…”

“…We aimed to recruit a nationwide representative sample of 10-to-13-year-olds and their mothers. Therefore, random sampling methods were used to recruit participants from five randomly selected regions and provinces in the Netherlands [31,32]. The regions were based on the four cardinal points (i.e., North, East, South, West).…”

“…Finally, the present research examined for the first time whether two specific parenting factors (i.e., perceived relationship support and monitoring) were associated with adolescents' frequency of bringing and purchasing food and drinks in the school food environment. Data on the extent to which adolescents received relationship support from their mother and mothers' knowledge about their child's daily activities (i.e., maternal monitoring) were collected in a previous wave of a longitudinal lifestyle cohort study [31,32]. This final research aim, therefore, is explorative in its ambition, without having derived causal hypotheses.…”