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Adolescent Drinking (adolescent + drinking)
Selected AbstractsAssessing alcohol guidelines in teenagers: results from a 10-year prospective studyAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 2 2009Elya Moore Abstract Objective: To assess the value of drinking guidelines applied in adolescence for predicting alcohol-related outcomes in young adulthood. Methods: We conducted an eight-wave, population-based cohort study of 696 males and 824 females in Victoria between 1992 and 2003. Adolescent drinking was assessed at five survey waves, in six month intervals, from mean age 15.4-17.4 years. We created three measures of adolescent alcohol use using categories from NHMRC drinking guidelines: risky/high-risk drinking in the short and long term (2001), and high-risk drinking (2007). Each measure was defined according to the number of waves at which drinking was reported at or above the designated level during adolescence: non-drinkers, zero waves (low-risk drinkers), one wave, and 2+ waves. Alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related sexual behaviours were assessed at mean age 24.1 years. Results: Fourteen per cent of males and 17% of females were non-drinkers during adolescence. Using each NHMRC drinking guideline, the prevalence of each outcome for men increased with the number of waves at which drinking was reported above the low-risk level (p-values <0.007). The association was less clear for women. The prevalence of each outcome was lower among the nondrinkers compared to the low-risk drinkers for both men and women. Conclusions and implications: These findings support the emphasis in the NHMRC guidelines on abstaining from alcohol during the adolescent years. Any drinking, even at the low-risk level, may not be appropriate in adolescence. However, refinements that could better capture the risk of adolescent drinking in women would be useful. [source] The influence of cultural orientation, alcohol expectancies and self-efficacy on adolescent drinking behavior in BeijingADDICTION, Issue 9 2010Duane F. Shell ABSTRACT Objective We hypothesized that the drinking behavior of adolescents in China is influenced by expectancies and self-efficacy and that adolescents' cultural orientation towards western versus traditional Chinese values influences expectancies, self-efficacy and drinking behavior, with western values leading to more dysfunctional patterns of beliefs and drinking, and that these beliefs are influenced by students' gender and school environment. Methods A total of 1020 high school students from Beijing completed the Chinese Adolescent Alcohol Expectancy, the Chinese Cultural Orientation and the Chinese Self-regulation Self-efficacy questionnaires. Results Results generally confirmed our hypotheses. Higher negative expectancies and higher self-efficacy reduced the likelihood of drinking significantly. Higher positive expectancies increased the likelihood of regular drinking but not occasional drinking. Having western cultural orientation increased the likelihood of drinking. Higher levels of western cultural orientation also increased positive expectancies, lowered negative expectancies and lowered self-efficacy. Having more western (less traditional) views towards traditional Chinese values decreased positive and negative expectancies. Gender influenced beliefs, with males having higher positive and lower negative expectancies, lower self-efficacy and more traditional cultural orientation. Students in key and general schools had less traditional cultural orientation and key school students had higher self-efficacy. Conclusions Results indicate that cultural orientation influences adolescent drinking and this influence is mediated partially through cultural orientation influences on adolescent drinking expectancies and self-efficacy. Having more western and less traditional Chinese cultural orientation leads to more drinking, lower self-efficacy for regulating drinking and more risk-promoting alcohol expectancies. [source] The adolescent origins of substance use disordersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue S1 2008Matt McGue Abstract Although early use of alcohol during adolescence has been consistently associated with increased risk of alcoholism in adulthood, the specific mechanisms that underlie this association remain unclear. We describe a program of epidemiological twin-family research that shows that early use of alcohol is best conceptualized as an indicator of a more general propensity to engage in adolescent problem behavior. Adolescent problem behavior, in turn, is a risk factor for a broad range of adult externalizing disorders, of which alcoholism is but one manifestation. These findings are shown to be consistent with a dual-process model whereby early adolescent problem behavior is associated with increased risk of adult psychopathology because both are indicators of a common inherited liability and because early adolescent problem behavior increases the likelihood an adolescent is exposed to high-risk environments. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of cross-cultural research, which may be especially informative for identifying the consequences of early adolescent drinking. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Alcohol Dependence and Reproductive Onset: Findings in Two Australian Twin CohortsALCOHOLISM, Issue 11 2008Mary Waldron Background:, Although early alcohol use is a strong predictor of future alcohol problems and adolescent drinking is associated with risky sexual behavior predictive of early childbearing, reproductive dysfunctions associated with delayed childbearing have been reported in adult drinkers. We examine the relationship between lifetime history of alcohol dependence (AD) and timing of first childbirth across reproductive development. Methods:, Data were drawn from two cohorts of Australian twins born between 1893 and 1964 (3634 female and 1880 male twins) and between 1964 and 1971 (3381 female and 2748 male twins). Survival analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards regression models predicting age at first childbirth from AD, with sociodemographic characteristics, regular smoking, history of psychopathology, and family and childhood risks included as control variables in adjusted models. Results:, Results suggest alcoholic women in both cohorts show overall delayed reproduction, with little effect of AD on timing of first reproduction in men. Effects of AD are particularly strong for women in the older cohort, where AD is associated with 73% decreased likelihood of first childbirth after age 29 [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10,0.75]. In adjusted models, effects reduce only slightly (HR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.11,0.80). For women in the young cohort, AD is associated with delayed reproduction after age 24, with 40% decreased likelihood of first childbirth (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.48,0.75). AD remains predictive in adjusted models, but without age interaction (HR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.62,0.85). Conclusions:, Findings of delayed reproductive onset in alcoholic women are consistent with alcohol-related reproductive dysfunctions, although underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. To better understand AD differences in reproductive onset, continued research on both biological and psychosocial risks is needed. [source] Gene-Environment Interaction in Patterns of Adolescent Drinking: Regional Residency Moderates Longitudinal Influences on Alcohol UseALCOHOLISM, Issue 5 2001Richard J. Rose Background: Drinking frequency escalates rapidly during adolescence. Abstinence declines markedly, and drinking monthly or more often becomes normative. Individual differences in adolescent drinking patterns are large, and some patterns are predictive of subsequent drinking problems; little, however, is known of the gene,environment interactions that create them. Methods: Five consecutive and complete birth cohorts of Finnish twins, born 1975,1979, were enrolled sequentially into a longitudinal study and assessed, with postal questionnaires, at ages 16, 17, and 18.5 years. The sample included 1786 same-sex twin pairs, of whom 1240 pairs were concordantly drinking at age 16. Maximum likelihood models were fit in longitudinal analyses of the three waves of drinking data to assess changes in genetic and environmental influences on alcohol use across adolescence. Secondary analyses contrasted twin pairs residing in rural versus those in urban environments to investigate gene,environment interactions. Results: Longitudinal analyses revealed that genetic factors influencing drinking patterns increased in importance across the 30-month period, and effects arising from common environmental influences declined. Distributions of drinking frequencies in twins residing in urban and rural environments were highly similar, but influences on drinking varied between the two environments. Genetic factors assumed a larger role among adolescents residing in urban areas, while common environmental influences were more important in rural settings. Formal modeling of the data established a significant gene,environment interaction. Conclusions: The results document the changing impact of genetic and environmental influences on alcohol use across adolescence. Importantly, the results also reveal a significant gene,environment interaction in patterns of adolescent drinking and invite more detailed analyses of the pathways and mechanisms by which environments modulate genetic effects. [source] |