Alcohol expectancies in childhood: change with the onset of drinking and ability to predict adolescent drunkenness and binge drinking

Abstract

Aims We examined the relationship between alcohol expectancies in childhood and onset of drinking, binge drinking, and drunkenness in adolescence and the influence of drinking onset on expectancy development. Design A prospective, longitudinal study of children assessed for alcohol expectancies and drinking at 4 time points between ages 6 and 17. Setting Community study of families at high risk for alcoholism conducted in a 4-county area in the Midwestern United States. Participants The study involved 614 children; 460 were children of alcoholics and 70% were male. Measurements Expectancies about alcohol effects were measured using the Beverage Opinion Questionnaire and child’s drinking by the Drinking and Drug History - Youth Form. Findings Partial factor invariance was found for expectancy factors from ages 6 to 17. Survival analysis showed that social/relaxation expectancies in childhood predicted time to onset of binge drinking and first time drunk (Wald chi-square, 1 d.f. = 3.8, p < .05 and 5.1, p < .05, respectively). The reciprocal effect was also present; when adolescents began drinking, there was an increase in social/relaxation expectancy and a concomitant increase in slope of the expectancy changes lasting throughout adolescence. Conclusions A reciprocal relationship exists between childhood alcohol expectancies and the development of alcohol involvement. Higher expectancies for positive effects predict earlier onset of problem drinking. Onset of use, in turn, predicts an increase in rate of development of positive expectancies.

Early life predictors of alcohol-related attitudes among 11-year-old never drinkers

“…These attitudes are risk and protective factors for early alcohol initiation (Goldberg et al, 2002; Goldman, Darkes, & Del Boca, 1999; Griffin et al, 2000), and represent a final shared pathway through which broad and varied antecedent variables exert their impact on alcohol use (Goldman, Darkes, et al, 1999; Sher et al, 2005). We focused on the majority (88.2%) of children who had not yet consumed alcohol, because attitudes about alcohol are known to change following experience with drinking (Jester et al, 2015; Smith et al, 1995). Specific research questions examined: (1) the prevalence of positive expectancies and high perceived risk among children at the end of primary (elementary) school who had never consumed alcohol, and (2) the role of sociodemographics (e.g., gender, ethnicity, parent marital status, parent education) in predicting family factors (e.g., prenatal alcohol exposure, parent(s)’ problem drinking, parent-child closeness) and child factors (e.g., cognitive skills, conduct problems, hyperactivity, internalizing problems), which in turn predict early alcohol attitudes.…”

Trajectories of positive alcohol expectancies and drinking: An examination of young adults in the US and Sweden

“…As such, the identification of predictors of alcohol use initiation and escalation among late adolescents and early young adults has been an area of intense research. One predictor, alcohol expectancies, has been found to be among the strongest predictors of drinking behavior after controlling for other predictors (Jester et al, 2015). Alcohol expectancies are defined as the perceived consequences (positive or negative) that are anticipated by an individual as a result of the consumption of alcohol (Chen et al, 2011).…”

“…Although negative alcohol expectancies have been reported to be associated with alcohol abstention, positive alcohol expectancies have been identified as a much stronger predictor of drinking among individuals under 35 years of age, particularly with respect to alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking (Bot, Engels, & Knibbe, 2005; Leigh & Stacy, 2004; Zamboanga, Horton, Leitkowski, & Wang, 2006). Research indicates that positive alcohol expectancies are a stronger predictor of drinking frequency and hazardous drinking (Bot et al, 2005; Leigh & Stacy, 2004; Zamboanga et al, 2006), account for unique variance in drinking behavior (Jester et al, 2015), and have served as the sole expectancy-based unit of analysis in other studies (Iwamoto et al, 2014). Thus, changes in positive alcohol expectancies during a critical juncture in the lives of young adults will likely be more strongly associated with changes in the trajectory of drinking than negative alcohol expectancies.…”

Coping Expectancies, Not Enhancement Expectancies, Mediate Trauma Experience Effects on Problem Alcohol Use: A Prospective Study From Early Childhood to Adolescence

“…In contrast, expectancies are beliefs about the effects of alcohol and are in evidence even before the onset of alcohol use (Jester et al, 2015). Both motives and expectancies have been linked to alcohol use, involving both frequency and consumption (Agrawal et al, 2008).…”