PROTECTIVE AND RISK FACTORS FOR ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL ABUSE

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Family prevention strategies are based on the premise that improvements in family environment and parenting skills will reduce the adolescent's risk of alcohol and other substance abuse. Similarly, parental socialization theory postulates that support and control are critical elements in the development of nonproblem behavior. However, there is a lack of empirical research defining which family factors are most effective in preventing alcohol abuse. Moreover, there are no longitudinal studies assessing the development of alcohol use patterns in representative samples of black and white adolescents to determine the effects of family and peer socialization while taking into account critical demographic factors, such as social class, family structure, gender, and neighborhood crime. Additional sources of social support which have been noted as important in black families, such as extended family support and church networks, have not been assessed for their relative impact on black adolescent development. In the proposed study, family and peer processes will be identified as risk or protective factors for the development of alcohol abuse among black and white adolescents. A prevention advisory group will guide the development of measures and prevention strategies for this study. A prevention manual will be developed integrating key prevention findings from this research with information from other funded prevention programs. This research will utilize and extend a three-wave longitudinal study of adolescents and their families in a general population sample in which black families were oversampled. Data are available from 211 black adolescents and their families, including mothers, fathers, and adolescent siblings (535 family respondents), as well as comparable data for over 400 white families. It is proposed that adolescents and their families be followed up for three additional waves, thereby assessing family and peer influences on the development of drinking patterns from early adolescence to early adulthood. Given the importance of peers during adolescence, it is also proposed that a peer, identified by the target adolescent, be independently interviewed. This longitudinal study, with a representative sample and multiple respondents (adolescents, siblings, parents, and peers), will serve as a unique and rich data source for assessing the relative influences of family and peer factors in the prevention of alcohol and related substance abuse in black and white adolescents.