Original articlePathways to adolescent alcohol use: family environment, peer influence, and parental expectations
Section snippets
Participants
The sample for this study was selected from a larger, longitudinal investigation of adolescent alcohol use. Approximately 3620 students from 11 high schools in six districts in the Houston area completed comprehensive questionnaires each semester starting in the spring of 9th grade, 1997, and ending in the spring of 12th grade, 2001. All of the school districts were very similar in terms of socioeconomic status, serving predominantly lower to middle class, blue-collar working families. Criteria
Preliminary analyses
The variance-covariance matrix and the correlations among all manifest variables included in the hypothesized model are displayed in Table 1. Variances are presented on the diagonal, covariances are below the diagonal, and correlations are above the diagonal. The zero-order correlations displayed in Table 1 document the significant relationships among all of the exogenous and endogenous variables included in the hypothesized model. Asterisks indicate that all the inter-correlations are
Discussion
Our model, based on longitudinal data and confirmatory testing of the influence of parents on peer factors, confirms and extends previous work on the protective role of family relationships in adolescent health behavior [18], [21]. The current findings further support the importance of the family environment and positive parenting practices in the direct and indirect reduction of adolescent alcohol use [3], [4], [5], [16]. Although the influence of peers on alcohol use was of greater magnitude,
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, No. R01 AA08864. We express our appreciation to Irene Easling, Dr.P.H., for her comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, and to J. Greg Getz, Ph.D. and Gerald Adams, Ed.D. for their contributions in conducting the longitudinal project.
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