Health Values Buffer Social-Environmental Risks for Adolescent Alcohol Misuse

Data from a representative sample of 17- to 20-year-old adolescents were analyzed to investigate whether a health-valuing attitude could buffer the effects of social-environmental risk on adolescent alcohol misuse. A risk index was constructed for adolescents, based on variables such as friends' drinking, parental alcohol abuse, and poor parental monitoring and communication. The expected buffering interaction called for high environmental risk to lead to greater alcohol misuse for adolescents who placed low value on health, but not for those who placed high value on health. The expected interactions were obtained for 2 alcohol-related variables (total consumption and consuming 5 or more drinks at a time).