Alcohol-related perceived parental approval: The moderating role of identity exploration

Abstract

Perceived parental approval plays a key role in influencing college student alcohol use outcomes. However, much remains unknown about how it varies over time, whether there are within-person associations with alcohol use, and whether identity exploration moderates its influence. To address this gap, we estimated cross-sectional (Aim 1 N = 2767 college students, 62.8% female, Mage = 19.94) and longitudinal (Aim 2 N = 1494 students, 63.2% female, Mage = 20.13) associations between perceived parental approval and four alcohol use indices: number of weekly drinks, peak estimated blood alcohol concentration, alcohol-related negative consequences, and alcohol-related attitudes. As hypothesized, all cross-sectional associations were significant and, at the within-person level, students reported elevated weekly drinking when perceiving their parents as more approving than usual. Identity exploration enhanced associations between perceived parental approval and negative consequences both cross-sectionally (b = -0.21, p < .01, 95% CI [-0.35, -0.07]) and at the between-person level from the longitudinal model, the latter of which was probed using finite differences: at an identity exploration of a standard deviation below the mean, a one-unit increase moving from a mean of parent-approval grand-mean centered to a standard deviation above the mean corresponds with a 0.96 increase (95% CI [0.76, 1.22]). in alcohol-related negative consequences. By contrast, at a one standard deviation above the mean of identity exploration, a one-unit increase moving from a mean of parent-approval grand-mean centered to a standard deviation above the mean corresponds with a 0.42 point increase (95% CI [0.3, 0.6]) in alcohol-related negative consequences. These findings highlight need for further study of within-person effects and emphasize that parental disapproval is less protective for students who have a strong commitment to exploring their own personal identity.