AUTHOR=Bristol Skye C. , Johnson Micah E. , Thompson Wesley K. , Albaugh Matthew , Potter Alexandra , Garavan Hugh , Allgaier Nicholas , Ivanova Masha Y. TITLE=Prospective associations of family conflict with alcohol expectancies in the adolescent brain cognitive development study: effects of race and ethnicity JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=15 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1250351 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1250351 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=Introduction

Alcohol expectancies predict subsequent alcohol use and related problems among adolescents, although predictors of alcohol expectancies remain unclear. This study examined the longitudinal association between family conflict, a sociocultural factor strongly implicated in adolescent alcohol use, and positive and negative alcohol expectancies of adolescents of diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Methods

Data were from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study 4.0 release, a multisite longitudinal study (N = 6,231, baseline age 9–10). Linear mixed-effects regression, with interactions between race/ethnicity and family conflict, tested the association between family conflict and alcohol expectancies, for each racial/ethnicity (e.g., Black vs. non-Black; White vs. non-White).

Results

Interactions of family conflict with race/ethnicity in predicting negative and positive alcohol expectancies were statistically significant for models testing Black and White adolescents, but not for Asian, Hispanic, and Other. Family conflict at baseline predicted lower negative alcohol expectancy for Black adolescents (B = −.166, p = 0.033) and positive alcohol expectancy for White adolescents (B = 0.71, p = 0.023) at the year 3 follow-up. All models controlled for sex, age, family socioeconomic status, alcohol expectancies at year 1, and family conflict at year 3.

Conclusion

The results indicate that family conflict is a potential risk factor for problematic alcohol expectancies for Black and White adolescents. Although we did not directly compare Black and White adolescents, our findings indicate that family conflict may operate differently for Black and White adolescents. Prevention and intervention efforts targeting family conflict may be relevant for different aspects of alcohol expectancies in Black and White families.