Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?

Introduction: Adolescent alcohol consumption has been declining across many countries, with rates of abstinence also increasing among younger cohorts. A range of socio-demographic variables and personality traits are associated with alcohol use; however, no study has examined whether the relationshi...

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Main Authors: Taylor, Nic, Callinan, S., Pennay, A., Livingston, Michael
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT210100656
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96273
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author Taylor, Nic
Callinan, S.
Pennay, A.
Livingston, Michael
author_facet Taylor, Nic
Callinan, S.
Pennay, A.
Livingston, Michael
author_sort Taylor, Nic
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction: Adolescent alcohol consumption has been declining across many countries, with rates of abstinence also increasing among younger cohorts. A range of socio-demographic variables and personality traits are associated with alcohol use; however, no study has examined whether the relationship between personality and drinking has changed over time as adolescent drinking has declined. Methods: Data from 15- to 17-year-old respondents were extracted from four waves (2004/2005, 2008/2009, 2012/2013, 2016/2017) of a long running Australian cohort study. Logistic regression analyses with interaction terms were used to determine whether personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability) and socio-demographic variables (age, gender, equivalised income, family structure, cultural background, school attendance and regionality) significantly differed between drinkers and abstainers and whether these relationships changed across cohorts. Results: The prevalence of drinking for 15- to 17-year-olds significantly declined over each survey wave from 54% in 2004/2005 to 24% in 2016/2017. Conscientiousness (odds ratio [OR] 0.82, confidence interval [CI] = 0.73, 0.93), extraversion ([OR] 1.25, [CI] = 1.11, 1.40) and emotional stability ([OR] 0.73, [CI] = 0.64, 0.83) were all significant predictors of alcohol consumption. No significant interactions between cohort and personality traits or socio-demographic variables were found. Discussion and Conclusions: The study found no evidence to indicate that the relationship between adolescent alcohol consumption and personality has changed. Similarly, socio-demographic relationships with drinking were stable as drinking prevalence dropped by more than half. This adds to the evidence that drinking declines among adolescents are spread broadly across the population and not concentrated within identifiable sub-groups of young people.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-962732024-11-25T00:14:05Z Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed? Taylor, Nic Callinan, S. Pennay, A. Livingston, Michael adolescent alcohol consumption personality underage youth Adolescent Humans Cohort Studies Australia Personality Emotions Demography Humans Cohort Studies Emotions Personality Demography Adolescent Australia Introduction: Adolescent alcohol consumption has been declining across many countries, with rates of abstinence also increasing among younger cohorts. A range of socio-demographic variables and personality traits are associated with alcohol use; however, no study has examined whether the relationship between personality and drinking has changed over time as adolescent drinking has declined. Methods: Data from 15- to 17-year-old respondents were extracted from four waves (2004/2005, 2008/2009, 2012/2013, 2016/2017) of a long running Australian cohort study. Logistic regression analyses with interaction terms were used to determine whether personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability) and socio-demographic variables (age, gender, equivalised income, family structure, cultural background, school attendance and regionality) significantly differed between drinkers and abstainers and whether these relationships changed across cohorts. Results: The prevalence of drinking for 15- to 17-year-olds significantly declined over each survey wave from 54% in 2004/2005 to 24% in 2016/2017. Conscientiousness (odds ratio [OR] 0.82, confidence interval [CI] = 0.73, 0.93), extraversion ([OR] 1.25, [CI] = 1.11, 1.40) and emotional stability ([OR] 0.73, [CI] = 0.64, 0.83) were all significant predictors of alcohol consumption. No significant interactions between cohort and personality traits or socio-demographic variables were found. Discussion and Conclusions: The study found no evidence to indicate that the relationship between adolescent alcohol consumption and personality has changed. Similarly, socio-demographic relationships with drinking were stable as drinking prevalence dropped by more than half. This adds to the evidence that drinking declines among adolescents are spread broadly across the population and not concentrated within identifiable sub-groups of young people. 2024 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96273 10.1111/dar.13793 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT210100656 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle adolescent
alcohol consumption
personality
underage
youth
Adolescent
Humans
Cohort Studies
Australia
Personality
Emotions
Demography
Humans
Cohort Studies
Emotions
Personality
Demography
Adolescent
Australia
Taylor, Nic
Callinan, S.
Pennay, A.
Livingston, Michael
Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title_full Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title_fullStr Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title_full_unstemmed Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title_short Have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of Australian adolescent drinkers changed?
title_sort have the personality and socio-demographic profiles of australian adolescent drinkers changed?
topic adolescent
alcohol consumption
personality
underage
youth
Adolescent
Humans
Cohort Studies
Australia
Personality
Emotions
Demography
Humans
Cohort Studies
Emotions
Personality
Demography
Adolescent
Australia
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT210100656
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96273