Alcohol-specific rules, personality and adolescents' alcohol use: a longitudinal person-environment study

AIMS: To examine the bi-directional associations between providing alcohol-specific rules and adolescents' alcohol use. Further, to explore person-environment interactions, we tested whether Big Five personality traits moderate the assumed association between providing alcohol-specific rules and adolescents' alcohol use. DESIGN: Longitudinal data (three waves in 2 years) from 428 families, consisting of both parents and two adolescents (aged 13-16 years) were used for the analyses. Analyses were conducted on four samples: a group of older adolescents and a group of younger adolescents who already consumed alcohol, and a group of older and younger adolescents who were not drinking at baseline measurement. FINDINGS: In general, results of structural equation modelling showed that providing clear alcohol-specific rules lowers the likelihood of drinking initiation, regardless of the age of the youngsters. Once adolescents have established a drinking pattern, the impact of parental alcohol-specific rules declined or even disappeared. Finally, the Big Five personality traits did not moderate the association between providing alcohol-specific rules and adolescents' alcohol involvement. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, in particular during the initiation phase of drinking, parents could prevent the drinking of their offspring, regardless of the age or personality of their youngsters, by providing clear alcohol-specific rules.