MEDIATORS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL AND PEER CHARACTERISTICS AND BEER DRINKING BY EARLY ADOLESCENTS

Social learning theory suggests that parents and peers influence adolescent drinking directly by providing social reinforcement and models for imitation, and indirectly by first influencing various expectations adolescents form about drinking. In this study, longitudinal data were used to investigate several mediators that could account for the relationships between adolescent beer drinking and parent and peer drinking behaviors and attitudes. The results show that peer drinking indirectly influences adolescent drinking by shaping adolescents' norms on drinking, drinking preferences, and expected consequences of drinking related to friends and problem behavior, whereas parental alcohol use and peer attitude toward alcohol largely directly influence adolescent beer drinking. The results suggest that influence is in large part direct or indirect depending on the source of the influence. In addition, different types of mediators may account for different relationships. Copyright © 1991, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved