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

Abstract

Alcohol-related attitudes are evident before children have personal experience drinking alcohol and represent key proximal predictors of alcohol use, but relatively little is known about how early life characteristics predict these attitudes. Among late childhood lifetime alcohol abstainers (Mage=10.67 years; 51% girls), we examine predictors of positive alcohol expectancies and perceived risk of alcohol use. Data from the Millennium Cohort Study, an ongoing nationally representative longitudinal study of children born in the UK, were available from 11,097 children who completed the self-report survey at modal age 11 and reported never drinking alcohol. A sequential structural model suggested that sociodemographic factors were distal predictors of age 11 alcohol attitudes that operated, in part, through family and child risk factors (measured at ages 3 to 7). Alcohol attitudes varied by sociodemographics; for example, boys had higher positive expectancies than girls and White British children had higher positive expectancies and lower perceived risk than Black British and Asian British children. In terms of family factors, parent alcohol problems predicted children’s lower perceived risk, and higher parent-child conflict predicted more positive expectancies. For child factors, children’s greater cognitive skills predicted higher perceived risk, and internalizing problems predicted more positive expectancies. Indirect effects from sociodemographics through parent-child conflict and internalizing problems predicted positive expectancies; indirect effects through parent alcohol problems and cognitive skills predicted perceived risk. Future research should delve further into mechanisms underlying the development of alcohol attitudes and their potential as malleable targets for prevention.

The potential adverse effects of minors' exposure to alcohol‐related stimuli via licenced venues: A narrative review

“…These studies were limited by a reliance on retrospective recollection of alcohol consumption for both minors and their parents [80, 81, 87, 93, 94, 97, 102, 107, 108]. Some studies were further limited by requiring children to report on both their own and their parents' alcohol use [86, 88–90, 96–98, 101].…”

“…The relevant research in this area examined: (i) how parental alcohol intake is associated with adverse alcohol-related outcomes in children (28 articles identified); and (ii) how children's observation of parental alcohol consumption affects children's attitudes and beliefs (4 articles). While research relevant to the first area does not directly examine exposure to alcohol consumption behaviours, it is acknowledged in the literature that greater parental alcohol use is likely to result in their children witnessing more alcohol consumption [29,46,[79][80][81][82]. Therefore, in line with research in the area and for the purposes of this review, greater parental consumption was considered a proxy for increased exposure to parental drinking behaviours.…”

“…This effect is still evident at lower levels of consumption, meaning parental drinking does not need to be at high-risk levels to impact on child outcomes [46,79,94,97,108]. These studies were limited by a reliance on retrospective recollection of alcohol consumption for both minors and their parents [80,81,87,93,94,97,102,107,108]. Some studies were further limited by requiring children to report on both their own and their parents' alcohol use [86, 88-90, 96-98, 101].…”

“…Second, children can inherit their parents' genetic vulnerability to developing alcoholrelated issues, which would contribute to transgenerational alcohol problems [91,115]. Third, parental drinking fosters positive alcohol expectancies among children through children observing their parents' alcohol use [29,[79][80][81][82]. In terms of the latter, a systematic review concluded that minors primarily learn about alcohol via observation of others, and that exposure to parental consumption behaviours throughout childhood and early adolescence can create positive alcohol expectancies, increasing the likelihood of underage alcohol use [29].…”

Social epidemiology of early adolescent alcohol expectancies

“…The studies found that while African-American youth initially had higher positive alcohol expectancies relative to White youth, more positive alcohol expectancies were only predictive of alcohol use in White youth [ 12 , 13 ]. However, another study in the United Kingdom found that White British children had higher positive alcohol expectancies than Black and Asian British children [ 14 ]. Several studies have found that older age is associated with higher positive expectancies [ 14 – 16 ].…”