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Childhood Risk Factors and Alcohol Use Trajectories during Adolescence
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Results on the early antecedents of problematic developmental pathways of alcohol use in adolescents are necessary in order to conceptualize effective prevention programs. Today's knowledge in that field is still limited. This is primarily due to the fact that until recently there were no statistical methods available which allow to model hypothesized and empirically identified prototypical trajectories and their associated predictors.
The aim of the current project is to identify trajectories of alcohol use in male and female adolescents. Moreover, they will be linked with early childhood risk factors and concurrent negative circumstances. We will reanalyse an archival data set (Leipzig Longitudinal Study) which includes 9 waves of data collection from childhood through adolescence. Results according to the aims of the study are in particular important for the reanalyses of evaluation studies regarding their group-specific effects. Moreover, recommendations for effective indicative prevention attempts against alcohol misuse in adolescence may be given according to the findings. In line with these assumptions we will reanalyse a data set based on an actual existing primary prevention program (IPSY) via Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM). With the help of this methodological approach it is possible to identify different kinds of alcohol use trajectories. We want to examine if IPSY has some effects on all alcohol use trajectories identified by LGMM or if differential effectiveness should be assumed. The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). We collaborate in that project with Dr. Margit Wiesner from the University of Houston. Publications
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Principal investigators: R. K. Silbereisen , K. Weichold, in collaboration with M. Spaeth |