TY - JOUR
T1 - The Mediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Uncontrolled Drinking
T2 - A Look at Gender-Specific Parental Influences
AU - Ebbert, Ashley M.
AU - Patock-Peckham, Julie
AU - Luk, Jeremy W.
AU - Voorhies, Kirsten
AU - Warner, Olivia
AU - Leeman, Robert F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Burton Family Foundation grant to the Social Addictions Impulse Lab, NIH/ NIAAA grant K01AA024160 to JAP-P and R21AA023368 to RFL. JWL’s effort on this project was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2018 by the Research Society on Alcoholism
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - Background: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) reflects an individual's belief that experiencing anxiety will cause illness or embarrassment, and may be a reason individuals self-medicate with alcohol. Harsh or indulgent parenting could contribute to the development of AS. We examined the direct and indirect associations between parenting styles and alcohol-related variables through AS and impaired control over drinking (IC; i.e., perceived failure to adhere to limits on alcohol consumption in the future). Methods: A multiple-group structural equation model with 614 university students (344 men; 270 women) was examined. Structural invariance tests were conducted to evaluate moderation by gender. We used a bias corrected bootstrap technique to obtain the mediated effects. Results: Father authoritarianism and mother permissiveness were directly linked to AS among women, whereas father permissiveness was directly linked to AS among men. This suggests unique parental influences based on gender regarding AS. While AS was directly linked to alcohol-related problems for both men and women, several gender-specific associations were found. AS was directly linked to IC for men but not for women. For men, father permissiveness was directly related to AS, and AS mediated the indirect link between father permissiveness and IC along both the heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems pathways. Similar to other internalizing constructs (e.g., neuroticism and depression), higher AS was directly associated with less heavy episodic drinking but more alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the dangers of AS for men as an important correlate of under-controlled drinking behaviors. Additionally, permissive parenting of the same-gender parent was associated with AS, which is consistent with the gender-matching hypothesis. Together, these results underscore the importance of measuring the independent influence of both parents.
AB - Background: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) reflects an individual's belief that experiencing anxiety will cause illness or embarrassment, and may be a reason individuals self-medicate with alcohol. Harsh or indulgent parenting could contribute to the development of AS. We examined the direct and indirect associations between parenting styles and alcohol-related variables through AS and impaired control over drinking (IC; i.e., perceived failure to adhere to limits on alcohol consumption in the future). Methods: A multiple-group structural equation model with 614 university students (344 men; 270 women) was examined. Structural invariance tests were conducted to evaluate moderation by gender. We used a bias corrected bootstrap technique to obtain the mediated effects. Results: Father authoritarianism and mother permissiveness were directly linked to AS among women, whereas father permissiveness was directly linked to AS among men. This suggests unique parental influences based on gender regarding AS. While AS was directly linked to alcohol-related problems for both men and women, several gender-specific associations were found. AS was directly linked to IC for men but not for women. For men, father permissiveness was directly related to AS, and AS mediated the indirect link between father permissiveness and IC along both the heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems pathways. Similar to other internalizing constructs (e.g., neuroticism and depression), higher AS was directly associated with less heavy episodic drinking but more alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the dangers of AS for men as an important correlate of under-controlled drinking behaviors. Additionally, permissive parenting of the same-gender parent was associated with AS, which is consistent with the gender-matching hypothesis. Together, these results underscore the importance of measuring the independent influence of both parents.
KW - Alcohol Use
KW - Alcohol-Related Problems
KW - Anxiety Sensitivity
KW - Impaired Control Over Drinking
KW - Parenting Styles
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U2 - 10.1111/acer.13631
DO - 10.1111/acer.13631
M3 - Article
C2 - 29573434
AN - SCOPUS:85045333582
SN - 0145-6008
VL - 42
SP - 914
EP - 925
JO - Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
JF - Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
IS - 5
ER -