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Eight-Month Predictive Validity and Covariance Structure of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire for Adolescents (AEQ-A) for Junior High School Students
Rex B. Kline
Objective: Research about the role of alcohol-related expectancies in the drinking behavior of young people has two crucial limitations: a paucity of longitudinal studies and questions about the construct validities of extant expectancy questionnaires. This study concerned the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire for Adolescents (AEQ-A) and its relation to drinking among grades 6,7 and 8 students. Objectives were (1) the evaluation of the concurrent and predictive validities of scales of the AEQ-A; and (2) study of the joint covariance structure of the AEQ-A with measures of alcohol use. Method: The AEQ-A and measures of drinking and related problems were administered twice within an 8-month period to 408 grades 6,7 and 8 public school students (mean age = 12.1 years; 50% boys; 98% white). All measures were administered in the schools as part of health classes. Results: In regression analyses only one AEQ-A scale--expectation of social enhancement--had clear concurrent and predictive validity. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that the entire AEQ-A seems to measure relatively distinct belief areas, but, again, only the social enhancement domain was related to drinking quantity-frequency. Conclusions: Expectations of social benefit may be a risk factor for higher levels of drinking among junior high school students, but the relative importance of this belief over other possible factors remains to be studied. (J. Stud. Alcohol 57: 396-405, 1996)
