STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL TESTS OF PATTERNS OF FAMILY-INTERACTION, PEER ALCOHOL-USE, AND INTRAPERSONAL PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL-USEAND MISUSE

A survey of 1,340 students in grades six through twelve was conducted to test, in the context of structural equation models, the predictive validity of a theoretical model of antecedents of adolescent alcohol u se and misuse. Constructs including parents' alcohol use, older siblin gs alcohol use, parents' approval of students alcohol use, older sibli ng approval of students alcohol use, peer use and approval of alcohol use (PUA), parental nurturance, parental permissiveness, child's grade in school, susceptibility to peer pressure (SPP), and deviant self-im age, were included. The final iterations of the models accounted for m ore than half of the variance in both alcohol use and alcohol misuse. In a standardized solution, the two largest direct effects on both ado lescent alcohol use and misuse were from SPP and PUA. When a seven ite m measure of SPP, including three items specific to alcohol use was us ed, the SPP latent variable accounted for a somewhat greater percentag e of the variance in adolescent alcohol use and misuse than did the la tent variable of PUA. When the three alcohol-specific items were delet ed from SPP, however, PUA accounted for more variance than SPP. Other predictors, including parental behaviors, proved to be significant whe n their indirect effects were evaluated. Models predicting alcohol use and alcohol misuse were similar. SPP, PUA, and other significant pred ictors should be included in future models predicting adolescent alcoh ol use and misuse, as well as in future interventions targeting these behaviors. Longitudinal studies should be used to test these findings. Evaluation of prevention should include examination of possible inter actions of these predictors with each other and with subject subgroup classifications.