Poster #212 - Outcomes of Alcohol-related Emotion Regulation among Parents and Adolescents from Low-Income Families

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Research has demonstrated that emotion regulation (ER) has been linked to adolescent adjustment (e.g., antisocial behavior, depression; Criss et al., 2016; Morris et al., 2007). Most measures of ER in the literature focus on adaptive (e.g., “I try to calmly deal with what is making me feel mad.”) and maladaptive (e.g., “I cry and carry on when I’m sad.”) strategies of self-regulation (Zeman et al., 2001, 2002). However, there have been few investigations regarding alcohol use as a means of modulating negative emotions. For example, it’s not uncommon for people to have a beer or glass of wine after a stressful day. It is unclear whether such alcohol-related emotion regulatory strategies are adaptive. The first goal of the current investigation was to examine the links between parent and adolescent alcohol-related emotion regulation (AER) and ER, binge drinking, internalizing problems, and antisocial behavior. Next, we explored whether AER was related to parent and adolescent outcomes after controlling for ER.

The sample consisted of 139 adolescent girls (M age = 15.65; 26.9% European American, 73.1% ethnic minorities) and parents (M age = 44.26; 82% biological mothers; Median annual income = $36,000; 39.1% single parents). Parent AER (parent reports) and adolescent AER (adolescent reports) were both based on the Risk Behaviors and Emotion Regulation Expectancies Scale. Parent emotion regulation, binge drinking, internalizing problems, and antisocial behavior were created using parent ratings. Adolescent emotion regulation and antisocial behavior were based on parent and youth reports; binge drinking and internalizing problems were measured using youth ratings.

Results indicated that adolescent AER was negatively and significantly correlated with youth emotion regulation and positively and significantly related to adolescent binge drinking, internalizing problems, and antisocial behavior (see Table 1). Likewise, high levels of parent AER were related to low levels of parent emotion regulation and high levels of parent binge drinking, internalizing problems, and antisocial behavior. The regression analyses involving adolescent data (see top of Table 2) demonstrated that adolescent AER was significantly and positively related to binge drinking and antisocial behavior after controlling for age and emotion regulation; youth AER was marginally related to sleep quality in the expected direction. Consistent with the adolescent analyses, parent AER was significantly and positively related to all three parent outcomes after controlling for age and emotion regulation.

The current investigation was one of the first to examine links between alcohol-related emotion regulation (AER) and adjustment among parents and adolescent daughters from predominantly low-income, single parent, and ethnic minority families. Overall, the findings from both parent and adolescent analyses suggest that the use of alcohol as a means of regulating ones negative (i.e., anger and sadness) emotions may not be very adaptive. Specifically, the evidence suggests that parents and adolescents who engage in high levels of AER may be at risk for heavy drinking, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and deviant behavior. The regression analyses also provide preliminary data that alcohol-related ER may be a distinct, yet related, construct compared to an established measure of ER.

Authors

• Michael M. Criss, Oklahoma State University
  Presenting Author

• Assaf Oshri, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erinn B. Duprey, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lixian Cui, New York University – Shanghai
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Sheffield Morris, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author