Longitudinal test of a developmental model of the transition to early drinking

Regan E. Settles, Tamika C.B. Zapolski, Gregory T. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reports on a longitudinal test of a developmental model of early drinking that specifies transactions among personality, learning, and behavior in the risk process. The model was tested on 1,906 children making the transition from elementary school to middle school across 3 time points: the spring of 5th grade, the fall of 6th grade, and the spring of 6th grade. In a transaction that has been referred to as acquired preparedness, individual differences in the trait positive urgency at the end of 5th grade were associated with increases in expectancies for social facilitation from alcohol at the start of 6th grade, which then predicted drinker status at the end of 6th grade. In addition, the alcohol expectancy and drinker status predicted each other reciprocally across time. Multiple factors appear to transact to predict early drinking behavior.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-151
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Abnormal Psychology
Volume123
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2014

Keywords

  • Alcohol risk
  • Expectancy
  • Longitudinal
  • Personality
  • Youth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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