dults’ Approval and Adolescents’ Alcohol Use

h c Purpose: To compare adults’ approval of adolescents’ lcohol use among white, black, and Latino youth and to valuate the effects of approval on most recent alcohol onsumption, past 30-day use and binge drinking. Methods: A cross-sectional telephone survey of n 6245 dolescents from 242 communities was conducted as part of he National Evaluation of the Enforcing Underage Drinkng Laws Program. The survey assessed perceived availabilty of alcohol, underage alcohol use, and problems related o underage drinking. Ordinary least squares regression odeling was used to test the relationships between adults’ pproval and most recent consumption. Logistic regression odeling was used to measure the association among pproval, past 30-day use and binge drinking. Results: Perceived consequences, parent and adult reltive provision of alcohol, and drinking with a parent ere protective of underage drinking. Providing alcohol t a party, however, was associated with a two-fold ncrease in past 30-day use and binge drinking. There ere minimal differences on adults’ approval across the hree racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions: Adults’ approval of alcohol use is highly orrelated with youth drinking behavior and has differntial effects on adolescents’ alcohol use depending on he social context in which the alcohol is provided. Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2004