Drinking restraint, alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence among children of alcoholics.
OBJECTIVE
Previous research has found drinking restraint to be a risk factor for alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in normative populations, but has not tested these relations in high-risk populations. The current study tested whether drinking restraint predicted alcohol-related outcomes in the same way for high-risk and low-risk individuals and tested whether there was a quadratic effect of drinking restraint on alcohol-related outcomes.


METHODS
Data from an ongoing longitudinal study of children of alcoholics (COAs; n = 189) and controls (n = 192) were collected at two time points 5 years apart.


RESULTS
The prospective findings extended previous cross-sectional literature by replicating the main effects of drinking restraint as a risk factor for subsequent drinking for controls. For COAs, however, higher levels of drinking restraint were associated with lower levels of later drinking. There was also a quadratic effect of drinking restraint in the prediction of alcohol dependence diagnoses, suggesting that those at the extreme levels of drinking restraint were least likely to develop alcohol dependence.


CONCLUSIONS
The relation of drinking restraint to alcohol-related outcomes may be more complex than previously hypothesized because it may work in different directions for high- and low-risk individuals and may have a nonlinear relationship to diagnostic outcomes.
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1104, USA. ryan.trim@asu.edu
Ryan S
RS
Trim
Laurie
L
Chassin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013695:Temperance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*