Eight-month predictive validity and covariance structure of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire for Adolescents (AEQ-A) for junior high school students.
OBJECTIVE
Research about the role of alcohol-related expectancies in the drinking behavior of young people has two crucial limitations: a paucity of longitudinal studies and questions about the construct validities of extant expectancy questionnaires. This study concerned the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire for Adolescents (AEQ-A) and its relation to drinking among grades 6.7 and 8 students. Objectives were (1) the evaluation of the concurrent and predictive validities of scales of the AEQ-A; and (2) study of the joint covariance structure of the AEQ-A with measures of alcohol use.


METHODS
The AEQ-A and measures of drinking and related problems were administered twice within an 8-month period to 408 grades 6.7 and 8 public school students (mean age = 12.1 years; 50% boys; 98% white). All measures were administered in the schools as part of health classes.


RESULTS
In regression analyses only one AEQ-A scale-expectation of social enhancement- had clear concurrent and predictive validity. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that the entire AEQ-A seems to measure relatively distinct belief areas, but, again, only the social enhancement domain was related to drinking quantity-frequency.


CONCLUSIONS
Expectations of social benefit may be a risk factor for higher levels of drinking among junior high school students, but the relative importance of this belief over other possible factors remains to be studied.
Kline
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Department of Psychology (PY 135-4), Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results