Does Family History Moderate the Relationship Between Parental Modeling and Parental Approval on College Drinking?
Open Access
- Author:
- Kelsey, Caroline Malory
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Robert James Turrisi, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Lori Anne Francis, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Alcohol
Family History
Modeling
Approval
Biobehavioral Health
College Students - Abstract:
- Heavy drinking among the college age population is a prevalent health problem. Current research has examined predictors of heavy alcohol consumption among college students. Parent influences and family history of alcohol problems have been identified as predictors of college drinking. However, the extent to which family history of alcoholism might moderate the relationship between parent influences and college student drinking has yet to be examined. The aims of the current study were to 1) examine parent influences as predictors of high risk college drinking and 2) find how the presence of family history influences the aforementioned relationships. Participants were randomly selected incoming first year students (N=1901) at a large, public mid-Atlantic university. Students received baseline surveys the summer before entering college, where they were asked to report on parental modeling, parental approval, and family history of alcohol problems. During the second survey (15 months after the initial survey) students reported on their typical weekly drinking and alcohol related consequences. The results showed increased father and mother modeling reported at baseline were associated with more drinking and alcohol-related physical consequences. Parental approval of moderate and heavy drinking were associated with more drinking and alcohol-related physical consequences in college students. Family history was shown to moderate the relationship between father modeling and drinking such that father modeling was more strongly related to drinking when family history was not present. Family history also was observed to moderate the relationship between both parental approval (of moderate and heavy) drinking and the amount of college drinking. Parental approval of moderate drinking and parental approval of heavy drinking were each more strongly related when there was family history present. This is one of the first studies to examine how family history moderates the relationships between parental influences and college student drinking, and these findings have important implications for prevention strategies.