It is proposed to undertake a cross-national panel study of social- psychological factors related to the development and maintenance of drinking, problem drinking, and drinking problems among adolescents in the United States and the Republic of Ireland. Data will be obtained on three occasions over three years using a combination of classroom and mail surveys. The subjects in the study will be 2000 high school students from the San Francisco Bay Area and 2000 post-primary students from greater Dublin, Ireland. The proposed study will be guided by a multivariate and interactional theoretical framework that focuses on cultural, environmental, and intrapersonal factors. The primary explanatory variables to be explored in the proposed study include normative beliefs; alcohol expectancy-value beliefs; subjective availability; involvement in other problem behaviors; value for independence; bonding to school; bonding to religion; bonding to family; stress; and background characteristics (gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status). The primary immediate goals of the research are to investigate (a) differences between drinkers and non-drinkers in their beliefs, personality, and other relevant factors; (b) differences and similarities between American and Irish adolescents in drinking, problem drinking, and drinking problems; (c) differences and similarities between American and Irish adolescents in their beliefs, personality, and other factors; (d) differences between American and Irish adolescents in the developmental sequence of substance use; and (e) differences between American and Irish adolescents in the processes that predict initiation to, maintenance of, and cessation of drinking, problem drinking, and drinking problems. Special comparisons will be made among American ethnic groups and between Irish and Irish-American adolescents. These issues will be addressed through a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses including profile analysis, regression analysis, discriminant function analysis, and multi-group structural equation modeling. The more general goals of the research are (a) to test and refine a model of adolescent drinking developed in previous research by applying it in a cross-cultural context and (b) to increase understanding of how adolescents make decisions regarding drinking by identifying those factors that are unique to the United States and those that have a broader cross-cultural applicability. The final long-term goal of this research is to provide information that will increase the ability of health educators and other concerned individuals to design and implement more effective interventions to prevent or delay adolescent drinking, problem drinking, and drinking problems.
| Morgan, M; Grube, J W (1997) Correlates of change in adolescent alcohol consumption in Ireland: implications for understanding influences and enhancing interventions. Subst Use Misuse 32:609-19 |
| Chen, M J; Grube, J W; Madden, P A (1994) Alcohol expectancies and adolescent drinking: differential prediction of frequency, quantity, and intoxication. Addict Behav 19:521-9 |
