260328 Contextual and personality influences on alcohol expectation and consumption through early adolescent

Monday, October 29, 2012

Te-Tien Ting , Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
WEi J. Chen, MD, ScD , College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 100, Taiwan
Ying-Ying Chen, BSc , Institute of Public Health, National Yan-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Kuang-Hung Chen, MSc , Institute of Public Health, National Yan-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Keh-Ming Lin, MD, MPH , Division of Mental Health and Addiction Medicine, NHRI, Mioli county, Taiwan
Chuan-Yu Chen, PhD , Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Background: Cumulative evidence indicates the risk of alcohol initiation escalates in adolescence. In the present study, we examine potential contribution of predispositional and contextual factors on cognitive process toward alcohol effects and alcohol drinking behaviors during the transition from late childhood into adolescence.

Method: Data were obtained from the on-going longitudinal study of 928 school-attending children in the Northern metropolitan region of Taiwan. Information concerning sociodemographic background, personality traits of sensation seeking , alcohol outcome expectancy, alcohol drinking, and parental drinking were collected via self-administered questionnaires on four occasions during the period of from 6th to 8th grade. Generalized linear regression model was carried out to evaluate strength of association estimates.

Results: Yougsters with greater sensation seeking were more likely to endorse higher levels of positive alcohol expectancies (i.e., enhanced social behaviors, global positive transformation, and promoting relaxation or tension reduction; beta=0.03~0.05, p<0.01). With adjustment for sociodemographic background, parental drinking, having drinking friends, and having friends with higher levels of positive alcohol expectancies, endorsing higher sensation seeking was significantly related with increased risk of alcohol drinking (Adjusted Odds Ratio=1.1, p<0.05). Slight moderational effect of personality and parental drinking appear on positive alcohol expectaction and continued drinking during the transition from primary- into middle school.

Conclusion: Contextual and personality traits contribute significantly to the endorsement of positive alcohol expectation and the risk of alcohol initiation/continuation. Intervention programs reducing underage drinking problems should integrate cognitive process toward alcohol effects and target both individual predisposition and contextual background.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the possible mechanism of predispositional, contextual, and cognitional factors on alcohol-use behavior during the transition from late childhood into adolescence

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Alcohol Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

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