In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 42, Heft 6, S. 642-643
<b><i>Background:</i></b> Combining work and family demands often results in conflicts increasing alcohol use. However, extreme levels of conflict may be associated with low volumes consumed. This study tests such an inverse u-shaped relationship and whether this is influenced by the source from which the conflicts mainly arise (family duties and/or work obligations). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Regression models including linear and quadratic terms were estimated based on a sample of 305 employed parents (mean age = 38.7; 52.1% mothers) in French-speaking Switzerland. <b><i>Results:</i></b> No significant gender differences were found for the total level of conflict, but men reported significantly more work conflicts influencing family life than women. A significant positive linear (<i>B</i> = 2.10, SE = 0.72) and negative quadratic (<i>B</i> = −0.60, SE = 0.26) effect was found indicating that parents with low and those with high level of conflict report drinking less alcohol than those with a medium level of conflict. This relation was independent from the underlying sources of conflict and persisted when adjusting for gender, level of employment, number of children, or age of the youngest child. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> This study extends existing knowledge by demonstrating that the relationship between work-family conflicts (WFC) and alcohol use is more complex than previously assumed. To explain the inverse u-shaped relation, future studies should test two major processes: (a) holding multiple roles may cause more conflicts but will also limit the opportunities to engage in alcohol use, (b) those facing high level of WFC are a particular risk group experiencing detrimental health outcomes other than hazardous drinking, and (c) a combination of both.
<b><i>Background:</i></b> In the motivational model of alcohol use, there are two dimensions underlying the classification of drinking motives resulting in four drinking motive categories: enhancement, social, coping, and conformity motives. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Using confirmatory factor analysis, the current study provides evidence on the best fitting factor structure in a large representative general population study among adults in the Netherlands (n = 2,440; two data waves separated by 3 months) using the DMQ-R (Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised). <b><i>Results:</i></b> The four-factor structure had the best fit at both time points in comparison with any other solution. Test-retest reliabilities indicate individual motive change in level over time, but not in terms of the four-factor structure. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The results replicate and extend previous findings among adolescents, in line with the motivational model of alcohol use, and suggest the utility of using the DMQ-R in future studies on adults' drinking motives.
Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a way of collecting data in people's natural environments in real time and has become very popular in social and health sciences. The emergence of personal digital assistants has led to more complex and sophisticated EMA protocols but has also highlighted some important drawbacks. Modern cell phones combine the functionalities of advanced communication systems with those of a handheld computer and offer various additional features to capture and record sound, pictures, locations, and movements. Moreover, most people own a cell phone, are familiar with the different functions, and always carry it with them. This paper describes ways in which cell phones have been used for data collection purposes in the field of social sciences. This includes automated data capture techniques, for example, geolocation for the study of mobility patterns and the use of external sensors for remote health-monitoring research. The paper also describes cell phones as efficient and user-friendly tools for prompt manual data collection, that is, by asking participants to produce or to provide data. This can either be done by means of dedicated applications or by simply using the web browser. We conclude that cell phones offer a variety of advantages and have a great deal of potential for innovative research designs, suggesting they will be among the standard data collection devices for EMA in the coming years.
<i>Aims:</i> To investigate which motives young adolescents indicate for first-time alcohol consumption and whether these motives are linked to risky drinking. <i>Methods:</i> Logistic regressions were used based on a nationally representative sample of 1,654 11- to 14-year-olds who had consumed alcohol at least once. <i>Results:</i> 'To toast' (42.5%), 'to find out what effect it would have' (36.4%), and 'to have more fun at a party' (31.0%) were most frequently indicated as motives. Boys indicated curiosity about the effect more often than girls who instead more frequently indicated coping motives. Those who had their first drink 'to have more fun at a party' or 'because it was exciting' had a higher likelihood of risky drinking. Moreover, those who indicated depression as a motive were three times more likely to have 5 or more drinks on a single occasion. <i>Conclusions:</i> Information on young people's motives for first-time drinking appears to play a significant role in primary prevention, e.g. to prevent risky drinking or alcohol-related problems later in life by postponing alcohol use.
In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 41, Heft 4, S. 464-471
In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 57, Heft 4, S. 483-489
Aims To further disentangle the role of exposure to drinking of role models (parents, peers, best friends) in the development of young adolescent alcohol use, the current study examined (a) whether parent's alcohol use exposure was associated with alcohol use outcomes among adolescents and (b) whether this association remained significant when including best friend and peer drinking exposure.
Methods A longitudinal study followed 765 adolescents from the Netherlands over 3 years. Adolescents (45.6% male, Mage = 11.78, standard deviation = 0.49 at baseline) completed questionnaires every 6 months, resulting in seven measurement waves. Adolescents reported their own alcohol use and exposure to parental, best friend and peers drinking.
Results Multilevel regression analyses indicated that parental alcohol use exposure was positively associated with a higher likelihood of adolescent alcohol use in the past 6 months, drinking in the last month and binge drinking in the last month. These associations remained significant when including exposure to peer and best friend's alcohol use, also when controlling for alcohol use at the previous timepoint (i.e. change in drinking). These associations were also consistent for boys and girls.
Conclusions Throughout early adolescence, parental alcohol exposure matters for their offspring's alcohol use, independently of whether peers or their best friend expose them to alcohol or not. Parental alcohol exposure should be considered in prevention efforts to further decrease the number of adolescents that engage in early alcohol use and binge drinking.
In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 47, Heft 6, S. 732-737
Ziel: Erstellung eines Überblicks
über Definitionen, Prävalenzen, Konsumentwicklungen
und Folgen des
Binge-Trinkens, definiert als Konsum
großer Mengen Alkohol pro Anlass,
mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf
Europa.
</P><P>
Methode: Qualitativer Review
aufgrund computerunterstützter
Literaturrecherche.
</P><P>
Ergebnisse:
Männer zeigen deutlich mehr Binge-Trinken
als Frauen. Im relativen Anteil
an Binge-Trinken ergibt sich in
Europa ein Nord-Süd Gefälle. Besonders
unter Jugendlichen und jungen
Erwachsenen finden sich Zuwachsraten.
Außerdem ergeben sich eine
Vielzahl negativer sozialer und gesundheitlicher
Folgen. Jedoch ist die
Vergleichbarkeit der Studien aufgrund
von unterschiedlichen Definitionskriterien
stark eingeschränkt.
</P><P>
Schlussfolgerung: Kulturübergreifende
Studien mit vereinheitlichten
Definitionskriterien und europäische
Forschung mit dem Schwerpunkt auf
Konsequenzen des Binge-Trinkens
sind dringlich.
In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 49, Heft 3, S. 327-335
In: Alcohol and alcoholism: the international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and the journal of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), Band 41, Heft 5, S. 566-573
This paper has two aims: (1) to replicate the four-dimensional structure of the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised (DMQ-R) in a national representative sample from Switzerland, and (2) to validate the relevance of distinguishing drinking motives by inspecting the relations with expected consequences, alcohol use, and alcohol-related and other problems. Confirmatory factor analysis and linear structural equation models were estimated based on answers of 5,617 8th to 10th graders (mean 15.1 years; SD = 0.95). The results confirm the four-dimensional factor structure in general and among subpopulations defined by gender, age, and linguistic region. It could also be confirmed that enhancement motives followed by coping motives were strongly related to alcohol use and heavy drinking, whereas conformity motives were negatively related. Coping motives were related to problems independent of whether they were assessed as alcohol-related or not, while enhancement motives were associated solely with alcohol-related problems. In sum, the results demonstrate the robustness of the DMQ-R and its usefulness for assessing drinking motives among European adolescents from different cultural backgrounds.