Change in Adolescents' Alcohol-Use Patterns, From Non-Drinking to Non-Heavy Drinking or Heavy Drinking. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheng, Tyrone C.; Lo, Celia C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of drug issues. Volume 45:Number 4(2015)
• Page Start: 447
• Page End: 459
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: alcohol -- adolescent -- drinking pattern; Drug abuse -- Periodicals; Drug and Narcotic Control -- Periodicals; Substance-Related Disorders -- Periodicals; Toxicomanie -- Périodiques; 362.29305
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042615604013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0426

Abstract

This study examined risk and protective factors at work when adolescents change from a non-drinking alcohol-use pattern to either non-heavy drinking or heavy drinking. Using a sample of 1, 725 non-drinkers extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we conducted multinomial logistic regression and found that likelihood of change from non-drinking to non-heavy drinking was associated positively with safe neighborhood, female, peers' drinking, emotional maltreatment, and delinquent behaviors. We found a negative association between such likelihood and being African American. We found that likelihood of change from non-drinking to heavy drinking was associated positively with peers' drinking, depressive feelings, drug use, and repeating a grade(s) at school. We found a negative association between such likelihood and having a married mother, being African American or some other non-Hispanic minority ethnicity, and maternal supervision. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.