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Regular Drinking (regular + drinking)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	80%

Selected Abstracts

The influence of cultural orientation, alcohol expectancies and self-efficacy on adolescent drinking behavior in Beijing

ADDICTION, Issue 9 2010
Duane 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]

Long-Term Effects of Minimum Drinking Age Laws on Past-Year Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 12 2009
Karen E. Norberg
Background:, Many studies have found that earlier drinking initiation predicts higher risk of later alcohol and substance use problems, but the causal relationship between age of initiation and later risk of substance use disorder remains unknown. Method:, We use a "natural experiment" study design to compare the 12-month prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, alcohol and substance use disorders among adult subjects exposed to different minimum legal drinking age laws minimum legal drinking age in the 1970s and 1980s. The sample pools 33,869 respondents born in the United States 1948 to 1970, drawn from 2 nationally representative cross-sectional surveys: the 1991 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiological Survey (NLAES) and the 2001 National Epidemiological Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions. Analyses control for state and birth year fixed effects, age at assessment, alcohol taxes, and other demographic and social background factors. Results:, Adults who had been legally allowed to purchase alcohol before age 21 were more likely to meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder [odds ratio (OR) 1.31, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 1.15 to 1.46, p < 0.0001] or another drug use disorder (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.44, p = 0.003) within the past-year, even among subjects in their 40s and 50s. There were no significant differences in effect estimates by respondent gender, black or Hispanic ethnicity, age, birth cohort, or self-reported age of initiation of regular drinking; furthermore, the effect estimates were little changed by inclusion of age of initiation as a potential mediating variable in the multiple regression models. Conclusion:, Exposure to a lower minimum legal purchase age was associated with a significantly higher risk of a past-year alcohol or other substance use disorder, even among respondents in their 40s or 50s. However, this association does not seem to be explained by age of initiation of drinking, per se. Instead, it seems plausible that frequency or intensity of drinking in late adolescence may have long-term effects on adult substance use patterns. [source]

Association Between GABRA1 and Drinking Behaviors in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism Sample

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 7 2006
Danielle M. Dick
Background: A wealth of literature supports the role of , -aminobutyric acid (GABA) in neurobiological pathways contributing to alcohol dependence and related phenotypes. Animal studies have consistently tied rodent homologs of the GABAA receptor genes on human chromosome 5q to alcohol-related behaviors; however, human studies have produced mixed results. Family-based association analyses previously conducted in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) sample yielded no evidence of association with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder,fourth edition (DSM-IV) alcohol dependence and these genes. As a follow-up to that study, we examined several alcohol-related behaviors in the COGA sample as follows: (1) a broader definition of alcohol dependence, including DSM-III-R symptoms and Feighner criteria (referred to as COGA alcohol dependence); (2) withdrawal; (3) history of alcohol-induced blackouts; (4) level of response to alcohol; (5) age of onset of regular drinking; and (6) age at first drunkenness. Methods: Family-based association tests were conducted, using multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in each of the 4 GABAA receptor genes on chromosome 5q. Results: In GABRA1, we found evidence of association with several of the drinking behavior phenotypes, including COGA alcohol dependence, history of blackouts, age at first drunkenness, and level of response to alcohol. We did not find consistent evidence of association with the remaining genes and any of the phenotypes. Conclusions: We found evidence for association between GABRA1 and COGA alcohol dependence, history of blackouts, age at first drunkenness, and level of response to alcohol. These analyses suggest that efforts to characterize genetic contributions to alcohol dependence may benefit by examining alcohol-related behaviors in addition to clinical alcohol dependence diagnoses. [source]

Suggestive Linkage on Chromosome 1 for a Quantitative Alcohol-Related Phenotype

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 10 2002
Danielle M. Dick
Background Alcohol dependence is a clinically and etiologically heterogeneous disorder. Accordingly, a variety of subtypes of alcohol-dependent individuals have been proposed, and multiple operational definitions of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence have been used in linkage analyses directed toward detecting genes involved in alcohol use and problems. Here, we develop quantitative phenotypes that characterize drinking patterns among both alcoholic and nonalcoholic subjects, and use these phenotypes in subsequent linkage analyses. Methods More than 9000 individuals from alcoholic and control families were administered a semistructured interview and personality questionnaire as part of the initial stage of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). A principal component analysis was conducted on items that captured many of the dimensions of drinking and related behaviors, including aspects of alcohol use, antisocial behavior and affective disturbance when drinking, and personality. Factor scores were computed for all individuals. Nonparametric linkage analyses were conducted on these factor scores, in the initial COGA sample consisting of 987 individuals from 105 extended families, and in a replication sample consisting of 1295 individuals from 157 extended families. Results Three factors were identified, accounting for 68% of the total variance. The most promising regions of linkage appeared for factor 2, on which higher scores indicate a later age of onset of regular drinking and higher harm avoidance. Chromosome 1 yielded consistent evidence of linkage in both samples, with a maximum lod score of 3.3 when the samples were combined for analysis. Consistent suggestion of linkage also was found to chromosome 15. Conclusions Developing novel phenotypes that more accurately model the effect of influential genes may help efforts to detect genes involved in complex disorders. Applying principal component analysis in the COGA sample provided support for some regions of linkage previously reported in COGA, and identified other new, promising regions of linkage. [source]

Pre-teenage Children's Experiences with Alcohol

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008
James McIntosh
This article reports on the drinking experiences and motivations of 77 pre-teenage children. The main reason which the children gave for occasional or regular drinking was the pleasure which they derived both from the effects of the alcohol and from the social interaction which accompanied the activity. Several of the children claimed that they were partly motivated by boredom. Peer influence appeared to play a minor role as far as the recurrent consumption of alcohol was concerned. A number of causes for concern are identified in the article. These include the frequency of the children's drinking and the volume of alcohol consumed by some of them; their tendency to combine different types of alcoholic drink in the same session; the unreliability of measures undertaken by the children to reduce risk and ensure their safety and the ease with which alcohol could be obtained. These findings emphasise the need for drug education programmes to alert children to the dangers of alcohol consumption and equip them with the skills to deal effectively with peer pressure. There is also a pressing need to improve the leisure facilities available for young people as alternatives to drinking and other problem behaviour. © 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2007 National Children's Bureau. [source]