The Relationship between Parental Alcohol Use, Early and Late Adolescent Alcohol Use, and Young Adult Psychological Symptoms: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that there is a mediational pathway from parental alcohol use during the participants' adolescence to the participants' psychological symptoms in young adulthood. This pathway includes the participants' alcohol use and their psychological symptoms, both during adolescence. The participants are inner city African American and Puerto Rican early adolescents followed until young adulthood. They reported their own and their parents' behavior. Structural equation modeling showed that parental alcohol use was related to early adolescent alcohol use, which was associated with late adolescent alcohol use. Late adolescent alcohol use was related to psychological symptoms in late adolescence, which predicted young adult psychological symptoms. Males reported more alcohol use and more psychological symptoms than females in late adolescence and more psychological symptoms in young adulthood. Findings suggest that parents' and adolescents' alcohol use should be a focus in interventions designed to prevent or treat psychological symptoms in late adolescence and young adulthood.