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Citation |
Peeters M, Wiers RW, Monshouwer K, van de Schoot RAGJ, Janssen T, Vollebergh WA. Addiction 2012; 107(11): 1939-1946. |
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Affiliation |
Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2012, John Wiley and Sons) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
22632107 |
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Abstract |
AIMS: This study examined the association between automatic processes and drinking behavior in young adolescents who just started drinking, in relation to individual differences in response inhibition. It was hypothesized that strong automatic behavioral tendencies toward alcohol-related stimuli (alcohol-approach bias) were associated with higher levels of alcohol use, especially among adolescents with relatively weak inhibition skills. DESIGN: To test this hypothesis structural equation analyses (SEM) were performed, using a zero inflated Poisson (ZIP) model. A well-known problem in studying risk behavior, is the low incidence rate resulting in a zero dominated distribution. A ZIP-model accounts for non-normality of the data. PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENT: A total of 374 participants (mean age of M =13.6 years) from special secondary education (a risk group for the development of substance use problems) completed the alcohol Approach Avoidance Task (a-AAT), the Stroop Colour Naming Task (Stroop) and a questionnaire that assessed alcohol use. FINDINGS: The ZIP-model established stronger alcohol-approach tendencies for adolescent drinkers ((p < 0.01) and the interaction revealed a stronger effect of alcohol-approach tendencies on alcohol use in the absence of good inhibition skills (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Automatically activated cognitive processes are associated with the drinking behavior of young at-risk adolescents. It appears that alcohol-approach tendencies are formed shortly after initiating of drinking and particularly affect the drinking behavior of adolescents with relatively weak inhibition skills. Implications for prevention of problem-drinking in adolescents are discussed. Language: en |