Promotive and Protective Factors for Alcohol Use and Problems in Emerging Adults

描述(由申请人提供)：新兴成年人(18-25岁)大量饮酒是近年来引起极大关注的一个重大公共卫生问题，有助于加大努力制定有效的预防计划(NIAAA，2002)。尽管几种预防方法显示了积极的效果，但这些影响的程度通常很小，这表明需要替代或补充的方法。大多数针对新兴成年人的预防计划寻求减少酗酒的已知风险因素，相对较少关注于确定促进负责任饮酒的因素，或防止同伴影响等既定风险因素的因素。 潜在的促进/保护因素包括自我调节技能、宗教信仰、父母影响、个人价值观以及对学校和社区的投入。尽管目前对成人的促进/保护因素的研究有限，但关于青少年的这些影响的文献很多，而且这一知识库已被有效地应用于开发新的预防方法。支持促进和保护因素的计划可能在初出茅庐的成年人中具有类似的效用，但需要全面了解这些影响，才能为此类计划的发展提供信息。这项拟议的研究试图通过对大学生样本和非大学同龄人的横断面样本的六年预期数据进行二次分析来发展这一知识库。拟议的项目将针对以下主要研究目标：(1)确定主要类别的促进/保护因素，防止初露头角的成年人酗酒及相关问题；(2)确定促进因素和风险因素(例如保护因素)在预测饮酒和问题方面的主要作用；(3)确定促进因素和风险因素的缓和在预测从青春期后期到成年初期饮酒行为和问题(轨迹)方面的主要影响；以及(4)为大学新生制定新的预防计划，旨在加强促进/保护影响。拟议中的研究将在几个重要方面推动该领域的发展。首先，这项研究将是第一批同时检查已确立的风险因素和在这一关键发育时期内广泛的促进/保护影响的研究之一。此外，这将是第一次利用从青春期后期到成年初期多年(六年)的纵向数据，使用最先进的统计方法(潜伏期生长曲线建模)。此外，大学和非大学新生样本的大量和多样化将使我们能够检验研究结果对性别、种族/民族和学生身份不同的新兴成年人的普适性。最后，通过这项研究所获得的知识将直接应用于为一年级大学生制定新的预防计划。这项计划将旨在加强这一高危人群中已确定的促进/保护因素。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heavy drinking among emerging adults (18-25 years) is a major public health issue that has garnered substantial attention in recent years, contributing to increased efforts to develop effective prevention programs (NIAAA, 2002). Although several prevention approaches have demonstrated positive effects, the magnitude of these effects is typically quite small, suggesting that alternative or complementary approaches are needed. Most prevention programs for emerging adults seek to reduce known risk factors for heavy drinking, with relatively little attention devoted to the identification of factors that promote responsible drinking, or that protect against established risk factors like peer influence. Examples of potential promotive/protective factors include self-regulation skills, religiosity, parental influence, personal values, and engagement in school and the community. Although there is limited research on promotive/protective factors in emerging adults, there is a substantial literature on these influences in adolescents, and this knowledge base has been effectively applied to the development of novel prevention approaches. Programs that bolster promotive and protective factors might have similar utility among emerging adults, but a comprehensive understanding of these influences in emerging adults is needed to inform the development of such programs. The proposed study seeks to develop this knowledge base through secondary analysis of six years of prospective data from a sample of college students and a cross-sectional sample of non-college peers. The proposed project will address the following major research aims: (1) identify major classes of promotive/protective factors against heavy drinking and related problems in emerging adults; (2) identify main effects of promotive factors and moderation of risk factors (e.g. protective factors) in the prediction of alcohol use and problems; (3) identify main effects of promotive factors and moderation of risk factors in the prediction of changes in drinking behavior and problems (trajectories) from late adolescence through emerging adulthood; and (4) develop a novel prevention program for incoming college freshmen that seeks to bolster promotive/protective influences. The proposed study will advance the field in several important ways. First, this study will be among the first to simultaneously examine well established risk factors and a wide range of promotive/protective influences during this critical developmental period. In addition, this will be the first such stud to utilize longitudinal data that spans multiple years (six years) from late adolescence into emerging adulthood using state of the art statistical approaches (latent-growth curve modeling). Further, the large and diverse sample of both college and non-college emerging adults will allow us to examine the generalizability of the findings to emerging adults who differ with respect to gender, race/ethnicity, and student status. Finally, the knowledge gained through this study will be directly applied to the development of a novel prevention program for first year college students. This program will be designed to strengthen identified promotive/protective factors in this high-risk population.