Relative importance of caregiver characteristics for future alcohol consumption in youth involved with child welfare system

Abstract Background Adolescents involved with child welfare system are disproportionately at risk for underage drinking. Little empirical evidence has informed interventions targeting child welfare caregivers to prevent alcohol consumption among adolescents involved with the system. Methods The present study addressed this gap by examining modifiable caregiver characteristics most predictive of future underage drinking in a cohort of adolescents (N = 1205) in a nationally representative child welfare dataset. We used dominance analyses to examine direct contributions of each caregiver predictor to the overall variance of future alcohol use. This is the first study to apply the reputable Turrisi and Jaccard (2001) framework of familial processes affecting underage drinking to the child welfare population. Results Findings highlight the role of caregiver-adolescent relational quality and communications for predicting underage alcohol use, and downplay the role of caregiver monitoring. Conclusions Child welfare service systems may help prevent underage drinking by systematically training and motivating caregivers to foster trusting, helping relationships and regular communications with the adolescents in their care.