title: Influence of language abilities and alcohol expectancies on the persistence of heavy drinking in youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been suggested that neuropsychological functioning and cognitive factors influence substance use and treatment outcomes in youth. This study examined a model in which language skills moderate the extent to which expectancies about the positive effects of alcohol predict the persistence of alcohol involvement in youth over an 8-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were substance use disordered adolescents recruited from inpatient alcohol and drug treatment centers (N = 139). Exclusion criteria included major head trauma, neurological illness and psychiatric disorders. Participants were administered neuropsychological tests, expectancy questionnaires and substance involvement interviews that spanned an 8-year period from ages 16 to 24 on average. Substance involvement was assessed by self-report, collateral reports and urine toxicology screens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using latent class growth analysis of alcohol use over 8 years, participants were classified as abstainers, infrequent users, worse with time or frequent users. Language x Expectancy interactions were significant at all time points (p range .05 to .0001, effect size eta2 range 0.03 to 0.20). This interaction significantly predicted 8-year alcohol dependence symptoms over and above effects accounted for by covariates or main effects (F = 2.98, 5/100 df, p < .05; R2delta = 4%, beta = 0.21, p <.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For youths with above average language skills, positivealcohol expectancies predicted alcohol use frequency and dependence symptoms in the 8 years following treatment; expectancies were less related to outcomes for youths with poorer language scores. Results suggest that verbal skills may magnify the relationship between alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System Psychology Service & Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California 92161, USA. stapert@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Susan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tapert
authors.forename: Denis M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Aarons
authors.forename: Alecia D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Schweinsburg
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013695:Temperance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*