The Relationship between Parental Monitoring, Peer Pressure, and Motivations for Responsible Drinking among Italian Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Positive Alcohol Expectancies

Abstract

This study investigated the associations between parental monitoring, peer pressure, and motivations for responsible drinking, while also taking the mediating role of positive alcohol expectancies into account. The participants were 579 Italian adolescents, aged 14-20 years (M = 16.39 years, SD = 1.27; 55.3% females), involved in a cross-sectional survey. They were administered online self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations between study variables. Parental monitoring was positively associated, both directly and indirectly, with adolescents’ motivations for responsible drinking through the mediation of positive alcohol expectancies; peer pressure was negatively and indirectly associated with adolescents’ motivations for responsible drinking, via the mediating role of positive alcohol expectancies. Findings highlighted the importance of environmental factors with regard to motivations for responsible drinking, suggesting the opportunity to implement prevention programs to improve parental monitoring and increase adolescents’ skills to manage peer pressure and to develop realistic expectancies about drinking.

Keywords:

• Parental monitoring
• peer pressure
• motivations for responsible drinking
• positive alcohol expectancies
• adolescence

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available at https://osf.io/zyq5r/?view_only=254dd19892b342e48dfcfb42309fe1c9.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria G. Bartolo

Maria Giuseppina Bartolo is postdoctoral research fellow in Developmental and Educational Psychology. Her main research fields are positive and negative behaviors among peers, bullying, cyberbullying, well-being and risk of radicalization in adolescents.

Anna L. Palermiti

Anna Lisa Palermiti is assistant professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology. Her main research fields are positive and negative behaviors among peers, bullying, cyberbullying, well-being and risk of radicalization in adolescents.

Rocco Servidio

Rocco Servidio is assistant professor in Social Psychology. His main research fields are cyberpsychology with a special focus on social media and Internet addiction, prejudice and intercultural relations, and risk of radicalization in adolescents.

Pasquale Musso

Pasquale Musso is assistant professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology. His research areas focus on social development of adolescents and emerging adults, especially as related to their positive development, acculturation processes, and socio-psychological adaptation

Flaviana Tenuta

Flaviana Tenuta is assistant professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology. Her main research fields are mother-child interaction and prenatal attachment.

Maria F. Amendola

Maria Francesca Amendola is Psychologist Head of the Alcology Operating Unit in Cosenza Hospital.

Angela Costabile

Angela Costabile is full professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology. Her main research fields are primary relationships, aggressive behavior among peers, risk of radicalization in youth. She was team leader on several national and international projects.

Cristiano Inguglia

Cristiano Inguglia is associate professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology. His research interests focus on the relationships between autonomy, relatedness, parenting dimensions and psychological well-being in adolescence and emerging adulthood.