Differential associations and definitions: a panel study of youthful drinking behavior.

This article reports on a test of selected elements of social learning theory, using a panel of public school students residing in a small southwestern city. Specifically, the drinking habits of 373 middle school and 282 high school students were examined at Time 1 and Time 2, as were changes in their attitudes, orientations, and patterns of drinking. We evaluated the assertions of social learning theory's proponents concerning its processual aspects. The results were largely consistent with the principles of social learning, although the drug-related messages conveyed by both parents and significant-other adults played only minor roles in the process for either group. We found support for the notion that the process of learning to drink is not uniform throughout the secondary school experience. The implications of these findings for social learning theory and drug intervention programs are addressed in this article.

[1]  D. J. Pittman,et al.  Social Learning and Teenage Alcohol Use: Interpersonal and Observational Influences within the Sociocultural Environment , 1984 .

[2]  L. Lanza-Kaduce,et al.  Community Context and Theories of Deviant Behavior: An Examination of Social Learning and Social Bonding Theories , 1984 .

[3]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Social Learning Theory and Adolescent Cigarette Smoking: A Longitudinal Study , 1985 .

[4]  L. Lanza-Kaduce,et al.  Social learning and deviant behavior: a specific test of a general theory. , 1979, American sociological review.

[5]  Griffiths Ct,et al.  Youth at risk: marijuana use among Native American and Caucasian youths. , 1983, The International journal of the addictions.

[6]  P. Bentler,et al.  Longitudinal Analysis Of The Role Of Peer Support, Adult Models, And Peer Subcultures In Beginning Adolescent Substance Use: An Application Of Setwise Canonical Correlation Methods. , 1980, Multivariate behavioral research.

[7]  R. Beasley,et al.  The Initiation and Avoidance of Drugs by Adolescents in the Southwest , 1981 .

[8]  L. Winfree.  Peers, parents, and adolescent drug use in a rural community: A two-wave panel study , 1985, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[9]  L. Lanza-Kaduce,et al.  Norm Qualities and Adolescent Drinking and Drug Behavior: The Effects of Norm Quality and Reference Group on Using and Abusing Alcohol and Marijuana , 1982 .

[10]  H. White,et al.  An application of three deviance theories to adolescent substance use. , 1986, The International journal of the addictions.

[11]  D. Kandel,et al.  Attitude and behavior: a specification of the contingent consistency hypothesis. , 1979, American sociological review.

[12]  Delbert S. Elliott,et al.  Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use , 1985 .

[13]  S. Bahr,et al.  THE ROLE OF PEERS IN THE COMPLEX ETIOLOGY OF ADOLESCENT DRUG USE , 1987 .

[14]  Susan M. Jaquith.  ADOLESCENT MARIJUANA AND ALCOHOL USE , 1981 .

[15]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Deviant behavior;: A social learning approach , 1973 .

[16]  D. Cressey,et al.  Principles of Criminology. , 1947 .

[17]  G. Jensen,et al.  Parents and Drugs , 1983 .

[18]  Gary M. Grandon,et al.  PARENTS AND DRUGS REVISITED: SOME FURTHER EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY* , 1986 .

[19]  M. Defleur,et al.  A Configurational Approach to Contingent Consistency in the Attitude-Behavior Relationship , 1972 .

[20]  R. Matsueda.  Testing control theory and differential association: A causal modeling approach. , 1982 .

[21]  M. Lewis-Beck.  Applied Regression: An Introduction , 1980 .

[22]  L. Winfree,et al.  Drug Use in Rural America , 1981 .

[23]  R. Agnew.  SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY AND DELINQUENCY: A LONGITUDINAL TEST , 1985 .

[24]  D. Kandel,et al.  Patterns of drug use from adolescence to young adulthood: I. Periods of risk for initiation, continued use, and discontinuation. , 1984, American journal of public health.

[25]  Fred Phillips,et al.  Linear Panel Analysis: Models of Quantitative Change. , 1982 .

[26]  M. Krohn,et al.  A Longitudinal Examination of an Integrated Social Process Model of Deviant Behavior , 1986 .

[27]  Griffiths Ct,et al.  Youth at risk: marijuana use among Native American and Caucasian youths. , 1983 .

[28]  L. Lanza-Kaduce,et al.  Cessation of alcohol and drug use among adolescents: A social learning model , 1984 .

[29]  S. R. Burkett,et al.  RELIGIOSITY, PEER ASSOCIATIONS, AND ADOLESCENT MARIJUANA USE: A PANEL STUDY OF UNDERLYING CAUSAL STRUCTURES* , 1987 .

[30]  R. Jessor,et al.  A social psychology of marijuana use: longitudinal studies of high school and college youth. , 1973, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[31]  Karen Heimer,et al.  Race, Family Structure, and Delinquency: A Test of Differential Association and Social Control Theories. , 1987 .

[32]  R. Jessor,et al.  Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study , 1978 .

[33]  M. Krohn,et al.  Social bonding theory and adolescent cigarette smoking: a longitudinal analysis. , 1983, Journal of health and social behavior.

[34]  L. Winfree,et al.  Social Learning and Adolescent Marijuana Use: A Trend Study of Deviant Behavior in a Rural Middle School. , 1983 .

[35]  Gregory B. Markus,et al.  Analyzing panel data , 1979 .

[36]  Ronald C. Kessler,et al.  Linear Panel Analysis: Models of Quantitative Change. , 1984 .

[37]  M. Scott Poole,et al.  Modes of Observation and The Validation of Interaction Analysis Schemes , 1981 .

[38]  Curt T. Griffiths,et al.  Social learning theory, drug use, and American Indian youths: A cross-cultural test , 1989 .

[39]  Robert L. Akers,et al.  A Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory of Criminal Behavior , 1966 .

[40]  D. Kandel.  Inter-and Intragenerational Influences on Adolescent Marijuana Use. , 1974 .

[41]  S. Bahr,et al.  Test of a Bonding/Association Theory of Adolescent Drug Use , 1986 .