{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["120(4)"],"submitter":["Percy A"],"funding":["National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)","Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government"],"pubmed_abstract":["<h4>Background and aims</h4>Within many alcohol prevention interventions, changes in alcohol-related attitudes (ARA) are often proposed as precursors to changes in drinking behaviour. This study aimed to measure the longitudinal relationship between ARA and behaviour during the implementation of a large-scale prevention trial.<h4>Design and setting</h4>This study was a two-arm school-based clustered randomized controlled trial. A total of 105 schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland participated in the Steps Towards Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programme (STAMPP) Trial.<h4>Participants</h4>A sample of 12 738 pupils (50% female; mean age = 12.5 years at baseline) self-completed questionnaires on four occasions (T1-T4). The final data sweep (T4) was 33 months post baseline.<h4>Measurements</h4>Individual assessments of ARA and heavy episodic drinking (HED) were made at each time-point. Additional covariates included location, school type, school socio-economic status and intervention arm. Estimated models examined the within-individual autoregressive and cross-lagged effects between ARA and HED across the four time-points (Bayes estimator).<h4>Findings</h4>All autoregressive effects were statistically significant for both ARA and HED across all time-points. Past ARA predicted future ARA [e.g. ARA<sub>T1</sub> → ARA<sub>T2</sub> = 0.071, credibility interval (CI) = 0.043-0.099, P < 0.001, one-tailed]. Similarly, past HED predicated future HED (e.g. HED<sub>T1</sub> → HED<sub>T2</sub> = 0.303, CI = 0.222-0.382, P < 0.001, one-tailed). Autoregressive effects for HED were larger than those for ARA at all time-points. In the cross-lagged effects, past HED statistically significantly predicted more positive ARA in the future (e.g. HED<sub>T2</sub> → ARA<sub>T3</sub> = 0.125, CI = 0.078-0.173, P < 0.001, one tailed) except for the initial T1-T2 path. In contrast, past ARA did not predict future HED across any time-points.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Changes in alcohol-related attitudes were not a precursor to changes in heavy episodic drinking within the Steps Towards Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programme (STAMPP) Trial in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rather, alcohol-related attitudes were more likely to reflect prior drinking status than predict future status. Heavy episodic drinking status appears to have a greater impact on future alcohol attitudes than attitudes do on future heavy episodic drinking."],"journal":["Addiction (Abingdon, England)"],"pagination":["645-654"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11907331"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"pubmed_title":["Disentangling the temporal relationship between alcohol-related attitudes and heavy episodic drinking in adolescents within a randomized controlled trial."],"pmcid":["PMC11907331"],"pubmed_authors":["Padgett RN","Sumnall HR","Percy A","Burkhart G","Brennan C","McKay MT","Cole JC"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Disentangling the temporal relationship between alcohol-related attitudes and heavy episodic drinking in adolescents within a randomized controlled trial.","description":"<h4>Background and aims</h4>Within many alcohol prevention interventions, changes in alcohol-related attitudes (ARA) are often proposed as precursors to changes in drinking behaviour. This study aimed to measure the longitudinal relationship between ARA and behaviour during the implementation of a large-scale prevention trial.<h4>Design and setting</h4>This study was a two-arm school-based clustered randomized controlled trial. A total of 105 schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland participated in the Steps Towards Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programme (STAMPP) Trial.<h4>Participants</h4>A sample of 12 738 pupils (50% female; mean age = 12.5 years at baseline) self-completed questionnaires on four occasions (T1-T4). The final data sweep (T4) was 33 months post baseline.<h4>Measurements</h4>Individual assessments of ARA and heavy episodic drinking (HED) were made at each time-point. Additional covariates included location, school type, school socio-economic status and intervention arm. Estimated models examined the within-individual autoregressive and cross-lagged effects between ARA and HED across the four time-points (Bayes estimator).<h4>Findings</h4>All autoregressive effects were statistically significant for both ARA and HED across all time-points. Past ARA predicted future ARA [e.g. ARA<sub>T1</sub> → ARA<sub>T2</sub> = 0.071, credibility interval (CI) = 0.043-0.099, P < 0.001, one-tailed]. Similarly, past HED predicated future HED (e.g. HED<sub>T1</sub> → HED<sub>T2</sub> = 0.303, CI = 0.222-0.382, P < 0.001, one-tailed). Autoregressive effects for HED were larger than those for ARA at all time-points. In the cross-lagged effects, past HED statistically significantly predicted more positive ARA in the future (e.g. HED<sub>T2</sub> → ARA<sub>T3</sub> = 0.125, CI = 0.078-0.173, P < 0.001, one tailed) except for the initial T1-T2 path. In contrast, past ARA did not predict future HED across any time-points.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Changes in alcohol-related attitudes were not a precursor to changes in heavy episodic drinking within the Steps Towards Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programme (STAMPP) Trial in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rather, alcohol-related attitudes were more likely to reflect prior drinking status than predict future status. Heavy episodic drinking status appears to have a greater impact on future alcohol attitudes than attitudes do on future heavy episodic drinking.","dates":{"release":"2025-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2025 Apr","modification":"2025-04-22T07:23:23.621Z","creation":"2025-04-22T07:23:23.621Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC11907331","cross_references":{"pubmed":["39657732"],"doi":["10.1111/add.16721"]}}