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Exploring Parental Influence on the Progression of Alcohol Use in Mexican-Heritage Youth: a Latent Transition Analysis

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Abstract

Mexican-heritage youth are members of the fastest growing minority group and are at particular risk for substance use including alcohol consumption. Youth face numerous risk factors including positive descriptions of substance use on media and peer offers that are potentially ameliorated by parental anti-substance use socialization efforts. Guided by primary socialization theory and the theory of planned behavior, the present study posited eight research questions to identify discrete subgroups/patterns of Mexican-heritage youth alcohol use behavior and parental influence on youth outcomes. Longitudinal survey data (n = 1147) from youth in 29 public schools located in Phoenix, Arizona, were collected over 3 years. Latent class and transition analyses identified four discrete subgroups characterized by response patterns of alcohol use behaviors and perceptions in Mexican-heritage youth: (1) non-drinker, (2) potential drinker, (3) experimenter, and (4) regular drinker. Targeted parent-child communication about alcohol and parental monitoring were found to be significant predictors for youth alcohol use. Research implications and future directions are suggested.

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Acknowledgments

This manuscript was supported by Grant Numbers R01DA005629 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to The Pennsylvania State University (Grant Recipient), Michael Hecht, Principal Investigator. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 425 University Blvd., Cavanaugh Hall 309, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    YoungJu Shin

  2. Centre for Health Initiatives, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Jeong-Kyu Lee

  3. Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Yu Lu & Michael L. Hecht

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  1. YoungJu Shin
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  2. Jeong-Kyu Lee
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  3. Yu Lu
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Correspondence to YoungJu Shin.

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Shin, Y., Lee, JK., Lu, Y. et al. Exploring Parental Influence on the Progression of Alcohol Use in Mexican-Heritage Youth: a Latent Transition Analysis. Prev Sci 17, 188–198 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0596-1

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