Are Educational Aspirations Associated with the Risk of Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use-Related Problems Among Adolescents?

Abstract

Objective: Using prospective data, we hypothesized that public middle school students with high educational aspirations would report less alcohol use, and alcohol use-related problems in the subsequent year. Methods: The participants for these analyses included students, ages 11 to 14 years old, participating in a longitudinal study in an urban sample of public schools (n = 1229). As part of the prospective annual assessments of the students, in 1992 (t₀) and 1993 (t₁), data on educational aspirations and on alcohol use, and alcohol use-related problems were gathered. Latent variable modeling was used to assess the relationship between educational aspirations at baseline (t₀) and subsequent year drinking behavior (t₁) in two separate models, one to examine the relationship of educational aspirations with self-reported alcohol use (model 1), and another to examine the association with alcohol use-related problems (model 2). Potential confounding by age, sex, race-ethnicity, alcohol use by peers, self-reported school performance, and neighborhood environment was held constant in each model. In addition, each model took into account the prior year report of alcohol use and alcohol use-related problems, respectively. Results: The evidence indicated that students with high aspirations were no more nor less likely to report subsequent alcohol use [β = 0.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.19, 0.49; p = 0.38] nor alcohol use-related problems (β = −0.009, CI = −0.07, 0.06; p = 0.80). Other characteristics were associated with alcohol use at follow-up and included race-ethnicity (being non-Black), neighborhood environment, and having friends who drink alcohol. Characteristics associated with alcohol use-related problems at the time of the follow-up interview also included race-ethnicity, peer drinking, neighborhood environment, as well as older age. Conclusions: Findings from the current study do not support the hypothesis that educational aspirations have significant influences on alcohol consumption or drinking problems in this study population of urban, predominantly Black students. As such, this work helps to advance our understanding of suspected relationships between educational aspirations, as well as factors associated with resilience to alcohol use and the occurrence of alcohol use-related problems.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• adolescence
• educational aspirations
• risk factors
• schooling.

Notes

^aThe full model with all parameter estimates are presented in Table 3. Significance level p-values were derived from the estimate divided by the standard error for the estimate.

^aThe full model with all parameter estimates are presented in Table 4. Significance level p-values were derived from the estimate divided by the standard error for the estimate. p = 0.02) (Fig. 1B). In contrast to the findings for alcohol use, no strong association for educational aspirations with alcohol use-related problems was found (β = 0.003, CI = −0.06, 0.06; p = 0.92) (Fig. 2B). In the next step of the latent variable analyses, we adjusted for educational aspirations at the time of the follow-up, again finding no appreciable change in the associations with alcohol use (β = 0.45, CI = 0.14, 0.76; p = 0.005) (Fig. 1C) or with alcohol use-related problems (β = 0.007, CI = −0.06, 0.07; p = 0.83) (Fig. 2C).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

ROSA M. CRUM

Rosa M. Crum, MD, MHS, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and has joint appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Mental Health. She is also a faculty member in the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Her research has focused on the epidemiology, prevention, and clinical treatment of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and the co-occurrence with other drug disorders and psychiatric conditions.

CARLA L. STORR

Carla L. Storr, ScD, is an Associate Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is currently involved with a study focusing on etiologic trajectories toward the onset of drug use and dependence to contribute an empirical basis for prevention programs and policies. Other interests include influences of the environment on drug involvement and the development of tobacco dependence.

JAMES C. ANTHONY

James C. Anthony, PhD, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Michigan State University, and prior Professor of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. His principal research interest is drug dependence epidemiology, including natural history and clinical course from the earliest stages of drug involvement through the most serious forms of drug dependence and related hazards.