Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2011 Dec;19(6):420-32. doi: 10.1037/a0025373. Epub 2011 Sep 26.
Children's alcohol expectancies shift in late childhood/early adolescence in ways thought to lead to increased risk for adolescent alcohol use. The precise nature of this shift and the maturational processes that may influence it remain to be clarified. To these ends, we compared expectancy endorsement by grade across four expectancy domains: positive, negative, arousal, and sedation, in a cross-sectional sample of 3rd-6th grade children attending afterschool programs (n = 299). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was then used to describe the relationships between expectancies and differences in (a) cognitive ability and concept formation, (b) risk-taking personality traits, and (c) social exposure or values regarding alcohol-related information. Results showed those children in higher grades endorsed significantly more positive, negative, and sedating expectancies for alcohol than their younger peers. Concept formation partially and fully mediated the relationships between grade and both positive and sedating expectancies, respectively, but not the relationship between grade and negative expectancies. Sensation seeking did not increase across grades in this sample, and the relationship between sensation seeking and positive expectancies was fully mediated by reported alcohol exposure and values. This study provides a basis for future exploration of developmental influences on alcohol expectancies, an understanding of which may be helpful in the design of prevention efforts targeting high-risk youth before adolescence.
儿童的酒精期望在儿童后期/青春期早期会发生变化，这些变化被认为会增加青少年饮酒的风险。这种变化的确切性质以及可能影响这种变化的成熟过程仍有待阐明。为此，我们比较了参加课后项目的 3 至 6 年级儿童（n = 299）在四个期望领域（积极、消极、兴奋和镇静）的年级间期望认可情况。然后，结构方程模型（SEM）用于描述期望与以下差异之间的关系：（a）认知能力和概念形成；（b）冒险人格特质；（c）与酒精相关信息的社会接触或价值观。结果表明，高年级儿童对酒精的积极、消极和镇静期望明显高于低年级儿童。概念形成部分和完全中介了年级与积极和镇静期望之间的关系，但与消极期望之间的关系则不然。在这个样本中，寻求刺激感并没有随着年级的增加而增加，寻求刺激感与积极期望之间的关系完全由报告的酒精暴露和价值观来介导。本研究为未来探索酒精期望的发展影响提供了基础，了解这一点可能有助于在青春期前针对高风险青少年设计预防措施。
