Separate dimensions of anxiety differentially predict alcohol use among male juvenile offenders

Although research has documented robust prospective relationships between externalizing symptomatology and subsequent adolescent alcohol use, the extent to which internalizing symptoms such as anxiety may increase risk for alcohol consumption remains controversial. Recent evidence suggests that one possible reason for mixed findings is that separate dimensions of anxiety differentially confer risk for alcohol use. The present study tested two dimensions of anxiety, worry and physiological anxiety symptoms, as predictors of alcohol use and misuse in a longitudinal sample of juvenile offenders.

Participants were 818 male juvenile offenders drawn from a larger multi-site, longitudinal study. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models estimated the influence of anxiety symptoms on typical drinking quantity, frequency of binge drinking, and alcohol dependence symptoms.

Results indicate that physiological anxiety and worry symptoms showed differential relations with alcohol use risk. Physiological anxiety was positively associated with increased risk for typical alcohol involvement, frequency of binge drinking, and alcohol dependence symptoms, whereas worry was negatively associated with all alcohol use outcomes.

Current findings underscore the importance of considering anxiety as a multidimensional construct when examining the prospective relation between anxiety and adolescent alcohol use risk.