This study on adolescents' drinking behavior had two main research foci : First, the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on adolescents' drinking behavior was investigated. Second, the factors associated with adolescents' drinking behavior ...
This study on adolescents' drinking behavior had two main research foci : First, the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on adolescents' drinking behavior was investigated. Second, the factors associated with adolescents' drinking behavior were explored. Specifically, the effects of personal, parental characteristics, and mass media environment factors adolescent's drinking behavior assuming the mediating effects of alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy were studied.
Personal characteristics included sensation seeking, peer conformity, parental characteristics included management monitoring and parental alcoholic problem, and cognitive factors, alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy.
One thousand and six hundred middle·high school students of middle to high school(8th~11th grades) were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed with frequencies, t-test, ANOVA with Scheffe ad-hoc test, Correlation analysis using SPSS 12.0 program. Also the factor analysis, and Structural Equation Models(SEM) of data were conducted using AMOS 5.0 program.
The findings of this research were as follows:
First, 75.1% of the students had tried alcohol at least once in their lifetime. The average drinking amounts among the youth were 4.81 glasses a month. Also, the average drinking frequency among the youth were 1-6 times per year.
Second, the result revealed difference in adolescents' drinking behavior such as amount & frequency according to gender, age, academic achievement, father's employment status, educational level of parents, living with parents, personal expenses.
That is, Drinking behaviors were found more serious in adolescents who were male, high school student, low academic achievement. It appeared that adolescents whose parents with some high school education or over showed less drinking behavior than adolescents who parents had middle school diploma. Adolescents lived with parents drank less than adolescents who didn't.
Third, structural equation models in adolescents' drinking behavior were explored. Alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy were proved to have significant mediating effect. The indirect effect of sensation seeking, peer conformity, and mass media environment factor by alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy was supported, and parental management monitoring by drinking refusal self-efficacy was supported. Drinking refusal self-efficacy had a significant direct effect on drinking behavior. As well as significant indirect effect by alcohol expectancies. Alcohol expectancies showed significant direct effect on drinking behavior, too. Mediating effects of alcohol expectancies and alcohol expectancies were supported, and the fitness of the model was good. On the other hand, the parental alcoholic problem showed direct influence on adolescents' drinking behavior.
The results of this study call for a need to develop a alcohol prevention program for adolescents. These results reinforced an impotance of understanding adolescents' drinking with related factors which involves personal, parental characteristics, mass media environment, and cognitive factors. Moreover, the study reconfirmed the necessity for developing preventive programs of adolescents' drinking based on the social learning theory. In addition, they should include alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy elements in these programs.