Dimensionality of alcohol use among American Indian adolescents: Latent structure, construct validity, and implications for developmental research

This study explored the latent structure of adolescent alcohol use and the construct validity of that structure. Using data gathered from 2,096 American Indian high school students, a double cross-validation design uncovered a three-dimensional latent structure of adolescent alcohol use: quantity/frequency, negative consequences, and serious problem drinking. Quantity/frequency was a significant predictor of both psychological adjustment (depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior) and three measures of others' perceptions of youth's drinking. Negative consequences offered a significant increment in prediction of these variables over and above quantity/frequency in 9 of the 10 analyses. Serious problem drinking was significant only in predicting boys' antisocial behavior and in predicting others' thinking that girls had a problem with drinking. Implications for developmental research are considered.