Alcohol Availability at Home and Adolescent Alcohol Use: Impulsivity and Drinking Motives as Moderators

Abstract

Adolescent alcohol use is associated with negative consequences on brain development. This study examined the predicting effects of alcohol availability at home, impulsivity, and drinking motives on adolescent alcohol use, and specifically, the interactions of impulsivity and drinking motives with alcohol availability at home in predicting adolescent alcohol use. Longitudinal data were obtained through questionnaires, filled in by 383 adolescents (88% boys, mean age = 13.56, SD = 0.86) in special education schools in the Netherlands. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed. Cross-sectional findings at T1 showed that alcohol availability at home, and social and enhancement motives were positively related to adolescent alcohol use. Longitudinally, T1 alcohol use and social motives were the strongest predictors of alcohol use at T2. Alcohol availability at home did not add significance to that model. No significant interactions were found. Thus, alcohol use over time can be best predicted by social motives and previous alcohol use. These results emphasize the importance of the social aspects of drinking and prevention, in order to decrease alcohol use over time. Additionally, increasing parental awareness of the positive relation between the availability of alcohol at home and the alcohol use of their adolescents could be of value.