title: The Prospective Joint Effects of Self-Regulation and Impulsive Processes on Early Adolescence Alcohol Use.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dual-process models propose that behavior is influenced by the interactive effect of impulsive (automatic) and self-regulatory (controlled) processes. Elaborations of this model posit that the effect of impulsive processes on alcohol use is influenced by capacity and motivation to self-regulate. The interactive effect of these three processes on drinking has not previously been tested. The goal of this study was to provide a developmental extension of this model to early adolescent alcohol use and to test the three-way interaction between impulsive processes (implicit alcohol cognition), self-regulatory capacity (inhibitory and activation control), and self-regulatory motivation (negative alcohol outcome expectancies [AOE]) in a 1-year prospective prediction of adolescent alcohol use.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescents (N = 325; 54% girls, mean age = 13.6 years at baseline) completed the Single Category Implicit Association Test and self-reports of alcohol expectancies and use. Inhibitory and activation control were based on parental report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Negative AOE and inhibitory/activation control were supported as moderators of the effect of implicit alcohol cognition on 1-year prospective alcohol use. As expected, weak implicit negative alcohol cognition was associated with elevated alcohol use when both negative AOE and inhibitory control were low. Contrary to hypothesis, when activation control was high, weak implicit negative alcohol cognition was unrelated to alcohol use if negative AOE were high (p = .72) (vs. low, p <.01). Activation control may reflect the ability to plan ahead and act pro-socially.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study supports current theory suggesting alcohol use is influenced by a complex interplay of impulsive and self-regulatory processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Roisin M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Craig R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Colder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D000068356:Self-Control; D000066608:Underage Drinking / Q000523:psychology*