Testing socioeconomic status and family socialization hypotheses of alcohol use in young people: A causal mediation analysis

Abstract

Introduction:The effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse may be mediated by family socialization practices. However, traditional mediation analysis using a product or difference method is susceptible to bias when assumptions are not addressed. We aimed to use a potential outcomes framework to assess assumptions of exposure-mediator interaction and of no confounding of the results. Method: We revisited a traditional mediation analysis with a multiple mediator causal mediation approach using data from 17,761 Norwegian young people (13-18 years), 51% female. Data were collected through a print questionnaire. Socioeconomic status was operationalized as parental education and employment status (employed or receiving welfare); drinking behavior as the frequency of alcohol consumption and frequency of intoxication in the past year; and socialization practices as general parenting measures, alcohol-related parental permissiveness, and parent drinking behavior.Results: There was no consistent evidence of exposure-mediator interaction. Formal sensitivity analysis of mediator-outcome confounding was not possible in the multiple mediator model, and this analysis supported the hypothesis that socioeconomic status effects on adolescent substance abuse are fully mediated by family socialization practices, with apparently stronger effects in younger age groups observed in plots. Conclusion:We found that the effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse was fully mediated by family socialization practices. While our analysis provides more rigorous support for causal inferences than past work, we could not completely rule out the possibility of unmeasured confounding.

Changes in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexican youth: Insights from the Voces-19 study

“…On the other hand, while many studies report that substance use is inversely associated with SEP (Aschengrau et al, 2021; Lemstra et al, 2008; Torikka et al, 2017), there are some that, like ours, report a direct association (Martins-Oliveira et al, 2016). This could be due to the alcohol purchasing capacity of those with of higher SEP (Obradors-Rial et al, 2018), to different substance use-related social conventions, or to socialization practices (Foxcroft et al, 2022). Furthermore, the association between SEP and substance use could depend on contextual factors, such as a country’s wealth and income inequality (Gomes de Matos et al, 2017; Liu et al, 2013).…”

The Relationship between Parent-Offspring Communication and the School Adaptation of Leftover Children in Overseas Countries: The Mediating Role of Companionship and the Moderating Role of a Sense of Safety

“…Family socialization is the initial, most significant, and far-reaching aspect of the socialization of children and is extremely important for children's psychological maturation, character formation, and acquisition of behavioral norms [10]. Family interactions are essential for children's social interactions and reflect the effects of family socialization [11]. Healthy parent-offspring communication not only helps to provide for children's need for love and belonging [12], but it also has an immeasurably important impact on the psychological health and character improvement of children, which can promote children's conscious acceptance of their parents' educational requirements and expectations and enable them to automatically internalize their parents' education as their own internal motivation to achieve their own positive development [13].…”