The Longitudinal Impact of Parental Emotional Warmth on Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Role of Impulsivity and Socioeconomic Status
Summary
Parenting style can either encourage or discourage adolescents’ alcohol initiation. The current longitudinal study investigated the relationship between emotional warmth and alcohol use. 1,243 Dutch adolescents of 11.11 years old (SD = .55; 51.1% girls) participated in the first three waves of the TRAILS-study and reported on alcohol use, impulsivity, and parental emotional warmth. Hierarchical regression analyses, including only non-drinkers at baseline, showed a marginal negative effect of emotional warmth on alcohol use. This finding indicates that adolescents who experienced less emotional warmth at age 11 before drinking was initiated, were relatively more likely to drink alcohol at age 16. However, after controlling for impulsivity and SES, the effect of emotional warmth on alcohol use disappeared. Additionally, findings showed that adolescents who experienced less emotional warmth at age 11, were relatively more impulsive at age 16, which was associated with an increased risk for alcohol initiation at age 16. Whether adolescents came from low or high SES did not change the relationship between impulsivity and alcohol use. Since this study revealed that impulsivity and SES are stronger predictors of adolescents’ alcohol use than emotional warmth, alcohol prevention strategies should focus on impulsive adolescents and adolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds.