PERSONALITY-ENVIRONMENT CONSTELLATIONS AND ALCOHOL-USE - A PROCESS-ORIENTED STUDY OF INTRAINDIVIDUAL CHANGE DURING ADOLESCENCE

Within an interactionist and process-oriented perspective, the salience of documented risk and protective factors in contributing to intraindividual changes in alcohol use behaviors and negative consequences of use during adolescence was tested. Participants (N = 870) were from a longitudinal study of normal adolescent development; they were 12 or 15 years old at the first test and were retested twice at 3-year intervals (92% longitudinal retest rate). Person-environment constellations comprising high impulsivity, disinhibition, and deviant peer group associations, and to a lesser extent, low parental control, most strongly influenced high-risk developmental trajectories of use intensity and problems. Personality and environmental risk factors acted as mutual catalysts of alcohol use behaviors and consequences; that is, their co-occurrence increased the likelihood of sustained movement along problematic developmental trajectories.