Predictor Of Alcohol-related Problems Research Articles

Examining Childhood Behavior Problems as Predictors of Alcohol Dependency in Emerging Adulthood: A Latent Class Analysis Approach

There is limited research on within-person clustering of early-life behavioral issues and risk for alcohol use issues. This study examined the relevance of childhood behavior problem clusters for predicting alcohol problems in emerging adulthood. This study examined full behavioral profiles as predictors of alcohol-related problems, rather than individual behaviors. The Pathways to Desistance dataset comprised of 1354 justice-involved youth followed across seven years post-adjudication collected from Maricopa County, Arizona and Philadelphia Pennsylvania were analyzed. Latent class analysis was used to identify clusters of childhood behavioral problems (cheating, disturbing class, getting drunk/stoned, stealing, fighting). Regression modeling was used to examine various alcohol use outcomes. Findings indicated that a three-class model best fit the data (Low; FDC; High). Assignment to the High class predicted greater social consequences of alcohol use, but this effect was only marginally significant. No significant effects were observed for either alcohol dependence measure.

Daily Patterns of Emotional Functioning on Drinking and Nondrinking Days.

Alcohol misuse continues to be a significant public health problem. Understanding the factors that may contribute to the harmful progression in drinking is an important aspect of public health. Previous research has shown that affect regulation is associated with problematic alcohol use. Additionally, emotion instability has been found as a predictor of alcohol-related problems and may be linked to reinforcement mechanisms. The current study examined positive mood, negative mood, and mood instability in real time across drinking and nondrinking days utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Current drinkers (n=74) were recruited for a 21-day EMA study. Participants completed up to 10 random assessments of positive mood, negative mood, and alcohol use per day. Mood instability was assessed as the squared difference in current mood from mood in the previous assessment. Data were analyzed using piecewise multilevel regression to examine mood trajectories across drinking and nondrinking days. Positive emotion across the day was higher on drinking days than nondrinking days and continued to increase after drinking initiation. In contrast, negative emotion across the day was lower on drinking days than nondrinking days and continued to decrease after drinking initiation. Emotional functioning was stable across the day on nondrinking days. However, on drinking days there was a steady increase in emotional instability leading up to drinking initiation, followed by a rapid stabilization after initiation. This study highlights the potentially reinforcing impact of alcohol via emotional stability. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of mood dynamics when examining the reinforcing effects of alcohol consumption.

Impulsivity and drinking motives predict problem behaviours relating to alcohol use in University students

AimsThis study used a four-factor model of impulsivity to investigate inter-relationships between alcohol consumption, impulsivity, motives for drinking and the tendency to engage in alcohol-related problem behaviours. Methods400 University students aged 18–25 completed an online survey consisting of the following measures: Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance and Sensation Seeking Scale (UPPS) to measure impulsivity; Student Alcohol Questionnaire to assess drinking quantity, frequency and rates of problem behaviours; Drinking Motives Questionnaire to assess motives for drinking. ResultsThe majority of the sample (94.5%) drank alcohol at least monthly. Path analysis revealed direct effects of urgency, sensation seeking and premeditation, as well as the quantity of alcohol consumed, on the tendency to engage in risky behaviours with negative consequences. The effect of urgency was mediated by drinking for coping motives and by a combined effect of drinking for social motives and consumption of wine or spirits. Conversely the effect of sensation seeking was mediated by the quantity of alcohol consumed, irrespective of drink type, and the effect of premeditation was mediated by the consumption of wine and spirits, in combination with enhancement motives. ConclusionsSensation seeking, urgency and lack of premeditation are related to different motives for drinking and also demonstrate dissociable relationships with the consumption of specific types of alcohol (beer, wine and spirits) and the tendency to engage in risky behaviours associated with alcohol consumption. Screening for high levels of urgency and for severe drinking consequences may be useful predictors of alcohol-related problems in UK University students aged 18 to 25years.

Predictors of alcohol-related problems among depressed and non-depressed women

BackgroundDepression and alcohol-related problems are often comorbid in women, but not all depressed women have comorbid alcohol-related problems. The current study investigated intrapersonal (drinking expectancies), interpersonal (interpersonal pressure to drink), and familial (mother's and father's drinking history) predictors of alcohol-related problems among women with and without a major depressive episode in the past year. MethodParticipants were 853 women ages 21–90 from a U.S. national probability sample. Depression diagnosis was determined via interviewer administration of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) depression module. Participants completed self-report measures of alcohol-related problems and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and familial predictors of drinking. ResultsRegression analyses indicated that an episode of depression in the past year, more positive drinking expectancies, greater interpersonal pressure to drink, and higher levels of maternal (but not paternal) drinking predicted alcohol-related problems; moreover, the relationships between alcohol-related problems and maternal drinking, paternal drinking, and interpersonal pressure to drink were significantly stronger among women with an episode of major depression in the past year than among women without an episode. LimitationsStudy data was cross-sectional and obtained through self-report, thus limiting causal explanations of results. ConclusionsFindings suggest that depression may enhance the impact of interpersonal and familial risk factors on women's alcohol misuse. Implications of findings for transdiagnostic models of psychopathology and for prevention and treatment of alcohol-related problems in women presenting with depressive symptoms are discussed.

Parental History of Anxiety and Alcohol-Use Disorders and Alcohol Expectancies as Predictors of Alcohol-Related Problems

Research has consistently identified a family history of alcoholism as a risk factor for alcohol-related problems, and global positive expectancies have been found to moderate this association. High rates of comorbidity between alcohol use and anxiety disorders suggest that a family history of anxiety disorders may also increase risk. Further, expectations of negative reinforcement (e.g., tension reduction) have been found to moderate the influence of anxiety-related traits. The current study sought to extend previous research by examining the influence of parental history of alcoholism, anxiety disorders, and the combination, as predictors of alcohol-related problems. Expectancies of global positive changes and tension reduction were hypothesized to moderate the influence of parental history of alcoholism and anxiety, respectively. Direct interviews with parents assessed their history of alcoholism and anxiety for 144 offspring (ages 18-32; 53.5% male) creating four groups: those with a parental history of alcoholism (27.80%), anxiety (22.20%), both alcoholism and anxiety (33.30%), and no history of psychopathology (16.70%). Established measures assessed the offsprings'alcohol expectancies, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems. Although expected interactions between parental alcoholism and global positive expectancies and between parental anxiety and tension-reduction expectancies were not found, global positive expectancies were associated with alcohol-related problems among the group with parental history of both alcoholism and anxiety. The results suggest that the relation between parental history of alcoholism and global positive expectancies observed in previous studies may be strongest among individuals with a comorbid parental history of alcohol and anxiety disorders. Incorporating expectancies into interventions targeting individuals with a comorbid parental history of alcohol and anxiety disorders may have utility.

Prevalence and Determinants of Alcohol-Related Problems

In this study, we sought to determine what factors, in addition to alcohol consumption, were the best predictors of social and physical alcohol-related problems. Variables examined as possible predictors of problems included circumstances under which people drink, feelings of alienation, and religious affiliation. Data for this study were collected continually from 1984 to 1989 using a random telephone survey of 2094 New York State residents aged 18 or older; the study sample was comprised of the 1076 who had consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days. Stepwise regression analyses examined the main effects of all possible predictors of problems while controlling for alcohol consumption. Forced-entry regressions examined interaction effects of problem predictors while controlling for basic demographics. Drinking with breakfast, smoking marijuana, and drinking in bars alone were all significant predictors of more problems. This suggests that problems are associated with an aberrant lifestyle (i.e., different from a typical lifestyle), although it makes no assumption about motivations. Further investigation of this subject area is warranted to ascertain which population subgroups are the most vulnerable to alcohol-related problems and to guide the design of prevention programs.

Heavy Drinkers in the General Population: Comparison of two Measures

Heavy drinking is a composite phenomenon being operationalized in various and at times misleading ways. With the ultimate goal of comparing the magnitude of the association between the studied patterns of heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems as they apply to public health policy, this project involved the comparison of two criteria used to define ‘heavy drinking’ in a general health survey that was carried out in the Province of Quebec (Canada). A weekly volume of 29 drinks or more (heavy weekly volume), an intake of 8 drinks or more within the same day (binge drinking) and an ‘alcohol-related problems’ measure based on the CAGE questionnaire and some of the items of the DSM-III (problem drinking) were used as indicators. The major finding of this study was that, controlling for sex, education, psychological distress, previous hospitalisation for alcohol abuse and previous suicide attempts, the weekly volume of alcohol consumed is a better predictor of alcohol-related problems than is daily consump...

An Analysis of Alcohol-Related Problems in Black and White Women Drinkers

This study examined prevalence rates and predictors of alcohol-related problems in samples of 635 black and 665 white women drinkers. The analysis showed that although black and white women exhibited very similar rates of alcohol-related problems, heavier drinking and drunkenness, they differed significantly on most social characteristics and in normative attitudes towards alcohol use.A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that black women were significantly less likely to experience alcohol related problems when drinking behavior, norms and social characteristics were taken into account. Further analysis showed that there was also a significant and negative interaction with race and the frequency of heavier drinking. This finding indicated that increases in heavier drinking were less likely to result in negative consequences among black women than among white women.These results differ from the findings of previous research showing that black women experience higher rates of alcohol-relate...

Self-reported intoxication among Hispanics in northern California.

Self-reported intoxication among Hispanics in northern California was studied through three independent surveys of the general population conducted between 1977 and 1980 in three counties of the San Francisco Bay area. All of the surveys followed the same sampling plan and only probability techniques were employed. A total of 634 adult respondents who identified themselves as Hispanics served as subjects. In the sample, 20% of the men and 5% of the women reported becoming intoxicated at least once a month, rates twice as high as in the general U.S. population. Consistent with this increased frequency of intoxication, Hispanics also had attitudes toward intoxication more liberal than those found in another study of the California general population. Intoxication was more frequent among the young and among heavier drinkers, and it was also a significant predictor of alcohol-related problems. It is suggested that intoxication be studied carefully because of its association with alcohol-related problems.