Description
TitleParental influences on college student drinking
Date Created2010
Other Date2010 (degree)
Extentviii, 193 p. : ill.
DescriptionProblematic drinking in college students is a serious public health problem. Although parental influence wanes during the college years, research suggests that parental behaviors in high school, including monitoring, alcohol-specific control (i.e., rules or communication), and problematic modeling of drinking, continue to predict their children's drinking even into college. This dissertation tests a model, developed by the author, that posits prospective associations between the parental behaviors discussed above and college student problematic drinking, mediated by student alcohol-related cognitions, namely, self-efficacy to avoid alcohol, negative alcohol expectancies, and peer drinking norms. Tests were conducted of the following main hypotheses: (1) parental behaviors in the senior year of high school are associated with a number of college freshmen's drinking outcomes, including heavy drinking, alcohol problems, and male and female binge drinking, after statistically controlling for significant covariates, such as gender, race, and past student drinking, and (2) each of the student alcohol-related cognitions mediates the relationships between parental behaviors and student drinking. Data to test these hypotheses were collected at one time point from an undergraduate population at a large, public university, and data on all measures was provided by student self-report (N = 292). Multiple regression analyses indicated that, for the most part, results were consistent with predictions. Greater maternal drinking was significantly and directly associated with greater student heavy drinking, and greater paternal drinking was significantly and directly associated with greater alcohol problems. Greater parental alcohol-specific monitoring was significantly and directly associated with lower heavy drinking and alcohol problems, while greater alcohol-specific rules was significantly and directly associated with lower heavy drinking and male binge drinking. Unexpectedly, greater alcohol-specific communication was significantly and directly associated with greater, not lower, student heavy drinking and alcohol problems and female binge drinking. Mediational analyses revealed that all three of the student alcohol-related cognitions mediated several relationships between parental behaviors and student drinking outcomes. Surprisingly, greater paternal drinking was significantly and indirectly associated with lower, not greater, student heavy drinking, as mediated by greater student negative alcohol expectancies. Methodological limitations notwithstanding, this study is one of the first to test a comprehensive mediated model of parental behaviors, student alcohol-related cognitions, and student drinking.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes abstract
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Kimberly Jean Robinson
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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