title: Antecedent predictors of children's initiation of sipping/tasting alcohol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sipping or tasting alcohol is one of the earliest alcohol-use behaviors in which young children engage, yet there is relatively little research on this behavior. Previous cross-sectional analyses determined that child sipping or tasting is associated with the child's attitude toward sipping and with a family environment supportive of alcohol use, but not with variables reflecting psychosocial proneness for problem behavior as formulated in Problem Behavior Theory (Jessor and Jessor, Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1977, Academic Press, New York). This study extended these analyses longitudinally to identify antecedent predictors of the childhood initiation of sipping or tasting alcohol in a multiwave study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 452 children (238 girls) aged 8 or 10 and their families was drawn from Allegheny County, PA, using targeted-age directory sampling and random digit dialing procedures. Children were interviewed using computer-assisted interviews. Antecedent variables collected at baseline (Wave 1) were examined as predictors of the initiation of sipping/tasting alcohol in childhood (before age 12) among Wave 1 abstainers (n = 286).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-four children initiated sipping/tasting alcohol in a nonreligious context between baseline and turning age 12. Initiation of sipping/tasting did not generally relate to baseline variables reflecting psychosocial proneness for problem behavior. Instead, as found in the previous cross-sectional analyses, the variables most predictive of initiating sipping/tasting were perceived parents' approval for child sipping, parents' reported approval for child sipping, parents' current drinking status, and children's attitudes toward sipping/tasting alcohol.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These longitudinal analyses replicate the earlier cross-sectional results. Young children's sipping/tasting of alcohol reflects parental modeling of drinking and parental approval of child sipping and does not represent a precocious manifestation of a psychosocial proneness to engage in problem behavior.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.forename: Brooke S G
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Molina
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D013649:Taste
keywords: Alcohol; Children; Epidemiology