Risk and Protective Pathways to Late Adolescent Alcohol Use: Effortful Control and Drinking Contexts

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Effortful control is an emergent individual difference reflecting self-regulation and it is composed of several facets, including the ability to inhibit behavior, activate or initiate behavior, and control attention (Rothbart et al., 2003). It has been well-documented that high EC protects against a wide range of maladjustment outcomes, including adolescent substance use (Eiden et al., 2007). However, a few studies have found that healthy EC is associated with alcohol use during late adolescence (Paige et al., 2020; Piehler et al., 2012). Researchers have posited that the broader developmental context in which late adolescent drinking occurs may help explain this unexpected relationship. However, little work has examined why healthy EC may be associated with adolescent alcohol use. The current study addresses this gap.
Peer norms may important for understanding associations between EC and alcohol use. The perception that peers drink and approve of drinking is associated with increased risk for alcohol use (Meisel et al., 2015). EC facilitates goal-directed behavior, and it may facilitate engagement in behavior that conforms to social norms. Accordingly, perceptions that drinking is normative may be associated with alcohol use among youth who are characterized by high levels of EC. Furthermore, EC may facilitate the capacity to behave in accordance with outcome expectancies. A large literature suggests that positive alcohol outcome expectancies are associated with increased alcohol use, whereas high negative outcome expectancies are protective (Leigh & Stacey, 2004). If EC facilitates goal directed behavior, then expectancies may be more strongly predictive of alcohol use at high levels of EC (Wiers et al., 2010). That is, adolescents with good control may be better able to organize their behavior to act consistent with their expectancies. These ideas suggest moderation, such that EC may operate as a moderator (of both peer norms and expectancies), and raises the intriguing possibility of potential 3-way interaction. That is, peer norms may be associated with alcohol use when youth maintain strong positive expectancies (or weak negative expectancies) and they have high levels of EC (can effectively direct their behavior to meet their goals). The current study tests the potential interactive effects of alcohol expectancies, peer norms, and EC on adolescent drinking.
The community sample of 378 adolescents was evenly split on gender (52% female) and was largely White (76%; 15% African American), and average ages across the 3 waves were 19.13, 20.22, and 21.26. Multilevel modeling was used to test prospective associations between EC, peer norms, and outcome expectancies, and their interaction, predicting adolescent alcohol use. The peer norms by positive expectancies by EC interaction term was statistically significant (β = 23.49, p <.05). However, the peer norms by negative expectancies by EC interaction term was not supported (β = -2.6, p = .83). The highest level of drinking was observed at high peer norms, strong positive expectancies, and good EC (see Figure 1). Findings emphasize the importance of considering the broader developmental context when studying risk and protective pathways to late adolescent drinking involving EC.

Authors

• Katie Paige, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Presenting Author

• Craig R Colder, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Non-Presenting Author