ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES AMONG ADOLESCENTS WITH CONDUCT DISORDER - PREDICTION AND MEDIATION OF DRINKING

Among adolescents with conduct disorder, alcohol expectancies were exa mined for both predictive utility and mediation of other predictors of alcohol use (i.e., delinquency, family history, demographic and psych opathology variables). Data were collected from 260 adolescents with c onduct disorder 11-18 years of age, who had been in either mental heal th residential facilities or community-based special education program s for adolescents with serious emotional disturbances. Zero-order corr elations and structural path models assessed relationships between exp ectancies, alcohol use, and other predictors of alcohol use. Results i ndicated: (a) expectancies of enhanced social and cognitive behavior w ere significant (p<.05) univariate predictors of drinking, (b) among a ll of the selected predictors, expectancies of enhanced social behavio r (i.e., Subscale 2 of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire - Adolesce nt Form; AEQ-A) had the strongest association with alcohol use (r=.54) and mediated between 31% to 44% of the drinking variance associated w ith other significant predictors (p<.01). Results were discussed as su pporting similar expectancy-drinking relationships among CD and noncli nical youth.