WITHDRAWN: Alcohol Expectancies As a Mediator of the Promotive Value of Ethnic Identity on Adolescent Drinking

Introduction: Among adolescents, alcohol is the most widely used substance, with 70% of youth consuming alcohol by 12^th grade. Although rates of alcohol use tend to be lower among ethnic minority youth compared to their White peers, negative consequences associated with use tend to be more severe. Thus, identifying promotive factors that prevent alcohol use is crucial to reducing the impact of drinking among this group. One such promotive factor is ethnic identity, which involves gaining resolution about one’s ethnic background, affect and regard toward one’s ethnic group, and behavioral engagement with one’s ethnic heritage. Strong ethnic identity has been found to predict antidrug beliefs and to work through such beliefs to decrease drug use among minority youth. However, whether ethnic identity similarly protects against alcohol use through alcohol-related cognitions is unknown. The current study aims to fill this gap by examining whether ethnic identity contributes to less problem drinking through positive and negative alcohol expectancies. We hypothesized that ethnic identity would be associated with less problem drinking through decreased positive expectancies and increased negative expectancies.

Methods: Participants were 113 youth ages 12-18 years (M = 15.27, SD = 1.81) recruited from after-school programs in an urban, mid-western city. A majority of participants identified themselves as Non-Hispanic African-American/Black (70%), followed by Hispanic/Latino (15%), Multiracial (12%), and American Indian/Native American /Alaska Native (3%). Most participants were male (66%). Participants completed self-report measures of ethnic identity, positive and negative alcohol expectancies, and problem drinking.

Results: Ethnic identity was positively related to negative alcohol expectancies, b = .014, p = .031, but not positive expectancies. As expected, negative alcohol expectancies were also inversely associated with problematic alcohol use, b = -0.62, p = .006. Moreover, a significant indirect effect was observed such that the relationship between ethnic identity and problem drinking was explained by negative alcohol expectancies. No indirect effect was found for positive alcohol expectancies, which were not related to problem drinking.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that developing a strong sense of ethnic identity contribute to beliefs that alcohol has negative effects. Thus, negative alcohol expectancies may be beneficial targets for intervention programs to reduce alcohol use among ethnic minority youth as they have been found modifiable in just a few sessions. Positive alcohol expectancies, which have been found to be more important determinants among White youth, may not be impactful targets for intervention among ethnic minority youth.