ALCOHOL ADVERTISING EFFECTS ON UNDERAGE DRINKING

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APPLICANT'S ABSTRACT: This study will employ a prospective design to examine causal pathways from alcohol advertising to alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior in a sample of approximately 6,200 South Dakota adolescents, including over 500 Native American (Lakota) youth. Four annual waves of data collection are planned. The study sample will include two cohorts: an older cohort enrolled in 8th grade when first surveyed and a younger one enrolled in 4th and 5th grade when first surveyed. The combined sample will enable us to trace links between advertising, alcohol expectancies, and drinking in a child-development perspective and to focus on two highly vulnerable periods of adolescence--just before and after transitions to middle school and high school. Survey data will cover exposure to and awareness of alcohol advertising, positive and negative alcohol expectancies, drinking behavior for specific beverage types, and individual background characteristics. Community-level data will also be collected to detect variation in policies regarding alcohol use, availability and demand among young people. Adolescents in the older cohort are already participating in annual surveys for Project ALERT PLUS, a randomized field trial of a school based drug/alcohol prevention curriculum that spans the middle- and high-school years. By merging ALERT PLUS with the proposed study, we can test whether effects of alcohol advertising are moderated (weakened) by this curriculum and examine the processes by which moderating influences occur. Specific aims are: (1) identify prospectively the links between alcohol advertising, alcohol expectancies, and underage drinking, and test the degree to which alcohol expectancies mediate the impact of alcohol advertising on underage drinking; (2) determine whether effects of alcohol advertising on alcohol expectancies and underage drinking vary in relation to background characteristics including sex, ethnicity (White and Lakota), age, and other factors; (3) determine whether and how a school-based drug/alcohol prevention curriculum alters the impact of alcohol advertising on alcohol expectancies and underage drinking; and (4) determine whether community differences in drinking relevant policies alter the impact of alcohol advertising on alcohol expectancies and underage drinking.