Does resilience moderate the associations between parental problem drinking and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors? A study of Korean adolescents

Background: This study examined the main and interactive effects of parental problem drinking and resilience on problem (externalizing and internalizing) behaviors among Korean adolescents. Methods: Data were collected from 482 adolescents (mean age = 14.4 years, 57% girls) from four middle schools in two urban areas in Korea. A revised version of Kim's measure (2003) and Hyun's Problems Behaviors Profiles (2000) were employed to measure resilience and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, respectively. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that parental problem drinking was directly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Further, the effects of parental problem drinking on both outcomes were moderated by resilience, such that the negative effects of parental problem drinking decreased in magnitude as resilience increased. Simple slope analyses showed that (1) the effects of parental problem drinking on externalizing behaviors were significant only at low levels of resilience and (2) the effects of parental problem drinking on internalizing behaviors were significant at low and average levels of resilience. Conclusions: Resilience may confer some protection against the adverse effects of parental problem drinking among Korean adolescents, but these protective effects are small in magnitude. Results highlight the importance of further research on culture-specific dimensions of resilience among Korean Children of Alcoholics (COAs). (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.