The Interactive Effects of Personality Profiles and Perceived Peer Drinking on Early Adolescent Drinking – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
The Interactive Effects of Personality Profiles and Perceived Peer Drinking on Early Adolescent Drinking – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
BRIEF REPORT
The Interactive Effects of Personality Profiles and Perceived Peer Drinking on Early Adolescent Drinking
Nina Pocuca, Leanne Hides, Catherine A. Quinn, and Melanie J. White
Queensland University of Technology
Louise Mewton, Nicola Clare Newton, Tim Slade, Cath Chapman, Gavin Andrews, and Maree Teesson
University of New South Wales
Steve Allsop and Nyanda McBride Curtin University
Early adolescent drinking has been identified as an important risk factor for the development of alcohol dependence. Both perceived peer drinking and personality profiles have been implicated as risk factors for early adolescent drinking. However, research is yet to determine how these 2 factors may interact to increase such risk. This study aimed to determine whether personality profiles moderated the relationship between perceived peer drinking and early adolescent drinking. Baseline data were utilized in the analyses, from 3,287 adolescents (Mage � 13.51 years, SD � .58; 54% female; 78% born in Australia) participating in the Climate Schools Combined Study (a cluster randomized controlled trial with 75 schools located across Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia, Australia). Lifetime consumption of alcohol, perceived peer drinking, and personality profiles (Substance Use Risk Profile Scale) were measured. A moderated binary logistic regression found the personality profiles of impul- sivity, sensation seeking, and hopelessness were positively related to early adolescent drinking, whereas anxiety sensitivity had a negative association. A significant interaction revealed that adolescents with higher levels of sensation seeking and who perceived their peers to be drinking were significantly more likely to report early adolescent drinking (consumption of a full standard drink; OR � 1.043; 95% CI [1.018–1.069]). These results indicate that perception of peer drinking is more strongly associated with early adolescent drinking, when adolescents are also high on sensation seeking. Prevention and inter- vention programs could consider targeting both sensation seeking and perceived peer drinking in adolescents.
Keywords: drinking onset, early adolescence, peer norms, personality, sensation seeking
Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000322.supp
Throughout the developed world people most commonly initiate drinking during mid-adolescence, with an average age of onset of approximately 15 years (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare,
2014; Johnston, O’Malley, Miech, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2016; Kraus et al., 2016; Ministry of Health, 2016). Among the few methodologically robust studies that have examined the issue,
This article was published Online First October 26, 2017. Nina Pocuca, Leanne Hides, Catherine A. Quinn, and Melanie J. White,
Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology; Louise Mewton, Nicola Clare Newton, Tim Slade, Cath Chapman, Gavin Andrews, and Maree Teesson, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use (CREMS), National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales; Steve Allsop and Nyanda McBride, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University.
Leanne Hides is now at the School of Psychology, University of Queens- land.
This article is based on data from the Climate Schools Combined Study and comprises part of a doctoral dissertation. The ideas appearing in this article have not been previously disseminated. The Climate Schools Com-
bined Study is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1047291). CREMS is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. NDARC is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Ser- vice Improvements Grants Fund. Leanne Hides is supported by an Aus- tralian Research Council Future Fellowship. The authors acknowledge the Australian Government Department of Health, NSW Department of Edu- cation and Communities, WA Department of Education, Queensland De- partment of Education and Training, as well as all schools, teachers and students who have agreed to participate in the research.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nina Pocuca, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus, School of Psychology and Counselling, O Block, B wing—level 5, Ring Road, Kelvin Grove QLD 4059, Australia. E-mail: nina.pocuca@hdr .qut.edu.au
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Psychology of Addictive Behaviors © 2017 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 32, No. 2, 230–236 0893-164X/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000322
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000322.supp
mailto:nina.pocuca@hdr.qut.edu.au
mailto:nina.pocuca@hdr.qut.edu.au
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000322
it appears that individuals who initiate drinking before 14 years are significantly more likely to experience problematic drinking than those who initiate later. The likelihood of developing abuse or dependence significantly decreases with each year initiation is delayed (Grant, Stinson, & Harford, 2001; Hingson, Heeren, & Winter, 2006). Given the evidence for the deleterious effects of adolescent drinking, a large body of research has focused on identifying the associated risk factors.
Social norms theory posits that descriptive (perceived preva- lence of substance use) and injunctive (perceived social acceptance of substance use) norms influence adolescent substance use (Eisenberg, Toumbourou, Catalano, & Hemphill, 2014). Descrip- tive norms in particular play a significant role in adolescent drink- ing. Two studies from the United States and Australia found that adolescents who perceived a large proportion of their peers to be drinkers were significantly more likely to drink themselves, than those who perceived their peers to be abstinent (D’Amico & McCarthy, 2006; Kelly et al., 2012). However, individuals vary in the extent to which their environment influences drinking, indi- cating the presence of moderating individual factors, such as personality (Marschall-Lévesque, Castellanos-Ryan, Vitaro, & Sé- guin, 2014).
Personality provides one way of understanding differential sus- ceptibility to drinking in adolescence. The Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) is a widely used measure of personality and assesses four personality risk profiles underlying substance use, namely (a) impulsivity (tendency to engage in risky behaviors without thought of consequence; IMP), (b) sensation seeking (de- sire to experience new and novel things; SS), (c) hopelessness (personality risk factor related to depression; HOP), and (d) anx- iety sensitivity (fear of physiological sensations related to anxiety; AS; Woicik, Stewart, Pihl, & Conrod, 2009). Impulsivity, sensa- tion seeking, and hopelessness have been positively linked to earlier age of drinking onset and increased alcohol use over a 3-year period, whereas anxiety sensitivity has been identified as a protective factor (Castellanos-Ryan, O’Leary-Barrett, Sully, & Conrod, 2013; Krank et al., 2011; Nair et al., 2016; Newton, Barrett, et al., 2016).
Studies including high-quality systematic reviews have consis- tently demonstrated that both perceived peer drinking (D’Amico & McCarthy, 2006; Jackson et al., 2014; Kelly et al., 2012; Leung, Toumbourou, & Hemphill, 2014) and specific personality profiles (Castellanos-Ryan et al., 2013; Nair et al., 2016; Newton, Barrett, et al., 2016; Stautz & Cooper, 2013) increase risk of early adoles- cent drinking. There has been limited investigation of how per- ceived peer drinking and personality profiles may interact to influence alcohol use in early adolescence. Stautz and Cooper (2014) examined the moderating effect of impulsivity on the relationship between perceived peer drinking and alcohol-related problems. A positive relationship between perceived peer drinking and alcohol-related problems was found among adolescents high in impulsivity, indicating that impulsivity significantly increases risk of alcohol-related problems in adolescents who perceived their friends to be drinking. Research is yet to examine the moderating effect of personality on the relationship between perceived peer drinking and early adolescent drinking.
The aim of the current study was to examine the unique effects of the four SURPS profiles on the relationship between perceived peer drinking and early adolescent drinking (consumption of a full
standard alcoholic drink). It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between perceived peer drinking and early adolescent drinking, such that those who perceived that a large proportion of their friends drink would be more likely to consume alcohol. It was anticipated that this relationship would be stronger for those high on impulsivity, sensation seeking, or hopelessness. Conversely, it was hypothesized that an inverse relationship be- tween perceived peer drinking and adolescent drinking would be found among adolescents high in anxiety sensitivity.
Method
Participants
Nonidentifiable data were drawn from the baseline survey of the Climate Schools Combined (CSC) study, a cluster randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of an online prevention program for substance misuse and anxiety and depression symp- toms in high school students (Teesson et al., 2014). The survey was conducted in 75 secondary schools across Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia. A combination of 43 gov- ernment, 19 Independent, and 13 Catholic Education Schools across regional and metropolitan areas participated (equivalent ages across states). Parental consent…
