Social learning theory and elderly drinking : a longitudinal structural equation model

227 Pages·1997·7.6 MB·English

by  Heffington, Thomas R

SOCIALLEARNINGTHEORYANDELDERLYDRINKING:
ALONGITUDINALSTRUCTURALEQUATIONMODEL
By
THOMASR.HEFFINGTON
DISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL
OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAIN
PARTIALFULFILLMENTOFTHEREQUIREMENTSFOR
THEDEGREEOFDOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA
1997
Copyright 1997
by
ThomasR.Heffington
for Hannah
5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ThedataforthisstudyweredrawnfromtheAlcoholandtheElderly
projectconductedattheUniversityofFloridawithfundingsupportfromthe
NationalInstituteonAlcoholAbuseandAlcoholism(No. P50AA05793). This
dissertationisbuiltontheeffortsofRonaldL.AkersandAnthonyJ.LaGreca
andotherresearcherswhocontributedtothedatacollectionandtheinitial
analysesandisintendedtocomplementtheirresearchonelderlydrinking. Any
errorsormisrepresentationsoftheireffortsaremyresponsibility.
Iwillbe‘eternally’gratefultoRonaldL.Akersforhispatientguidance
overtheyears. IamfortunatetohavehadRichardC.Hollinger,Anthony J.
LaGreca,JohnH.Scanzoni,andDavidI.Suchmanserveonmygraduate
committee. Theyhave,atvarioustimes,encouragedandprovokedmeto
accomplishmorethanIcouldconceiveorimagine.
SpecialthanksforavarietyofreasonstoAlvaroOrtiz,AmirMarvasti,
CharlesFrazier,ChristineSellars,DeanDabney,GangLee,GoldieMacDonald,
JanisWeber,JohnDixon,JulieNetzer,KarenSeccombe,KimPettigrew-
Brackett,KimberlyWoodham,MarionWillets-Bloom,MaryRobinson,Nadine
Gillis,PhilWebb,RichardBaxter,SheranFlowers,ShirleyWalker,SylviaAnsay,
TerrySmith,andTimFlollingsworth.
IV
1
TABLEOFCONTENTS
page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
LISTOFTABLES
LISTOFFIGURES
ABSTRACT
CHAPTERS
1 INTRODUCTION i
2 THESOCIALANDDEMOGRAPHICCONTEXTOFELDERLY
DRINKING: AREVIEWOFTHELITERATURE 9
Introduction
PrevailingSocio-DemographicPatternsofAlcoholUse 1
ElderlyAlcoholAbuse: MethodologicalandConceptualIssues 32
GerontologicalPerspectives 46
FutureConsiderations 56
3 THEORETICALCONSIDERATIONS 61
OverviewofSociologicalTheoriesofDeviance 61
SocialLearningTheoryanditsApplicationto ElderlyDrinking
Behavior 67
4 METHODOLOGY 87
AGeneralOverviewofLongitudinalResearch 87
SampleandProcedure 91
OverviewofStructuralEquationModeling 95
MeasurementofVariables 100
SpecificationoftheTheoreticalModels 107
v
5 SOCIALLEARNINGANDTHESTABILITYOFDRINKING
PATTERNS
12o
TheDistributionofDrinkingintheSample 120
EstablishingtheStandardModel 124
TheStructuralEquationModel 132
Coda 156
6 SUMMARYANDCONCLUSIONS 158
APPENDICES
A SELECTEDSURVEYITEMS 176
B MEANS,STANDARDDEVIATIONS,ANDBIVARIATE
CORRELATIONSFORSELECTEDVARIABLES 189
REFERENCES
BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 215
VI
LISTOFTABLES
1 AnnualAlcoholConsumption-DemographicCharacteristics 14
2 DailyAlcoholConsumption-DemographicCharacteristics 15
3 NationalDrugandAlcoholismTreatmentUnitSurvey. One-Day
CensusofOlderDrugandAlcoholClients. 1987-1992 58
4 DemographicCharacteristicsofAlachuaCountySample 94
5 DistributionofPastDrinkingBehaviorAmongtheElderly.
(ModifiedDunhamScale) 104
6 FrequencyofPastYearDrinkingatYearThreeforAlachua
CountyRespondents 121
7 FactorLoadingsforManifestVariablesonTwoYearLongitudinal
SamplesTakenfromtheElderlyDrinkingProject-Standardized
Coefficients -123
VII
LISTOFFIGURES
R9ure Ease
1 PredictedRelationshipsBetweenSocialLearning,PastDrinking,
andDrinkingFactors ’ 108
2 HypotheticalLongitudinalStructuralEquationModelofSocial
Learning,PastDrinking,andDrinkingFactors 116
3 MeasurementModelofVariableLoadingsandFactorCorrelations
forDefinitions,Associations,Reinforcement,PastDrinking,and
Drinking 127
4 InfluenceofSocialLearningFactorsandPastDrinkingonDrinking 133
5 InfluenceofSocialLearningFactorsonDrinking 138
6 InfluenceofAssociationsandReinforcementonDrinking 143
7 InfluenceofAssociations,asMediatedbyReinforcement,on
Drinking 144
8 InfluenceofDefinitionsandAssociations,asMediatedby
Reinforcement,onDrinking 148
9 LongitudinalModeloftheInfluenceofAssociationsandDefinitions,
asMediatedbyReinforcement,onDrinking 151
viii
AbstractofDissertationPresentedtothe
GraduateSchooloftheUniversityofFloridain
PartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfor
theDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy
SOCIALLEARNINGTHEORYANDELDERLYDRINKING:
ALONGITUDINALSTRUCTURALEQUATIONMODEL
By
ThomasR.Heffington
August,1997
Chairman: RonaldL.Akers,Ph.D.
MajorDepartment: DepartmentofSociology
Previousresearchhasshownsociallearningtheorytohaveconsiderable
predictiveutilityinexplainingdeviantbehavioramongjuveniles. Recently,
empiricalresearchonsociallearningtheoryhasbeenextendedtofocuson
drinkingbehavioramongtheelderly. Thisstudyprovidesatestofsociallearning
theorybyexaminingthesubstantiveissueofdrinkingbehavior.
Aspartofalargerstudyofalcoholconsumptionamongtheelderly,face-
to-faceinterviewswereconductedon218respondentsaged60andoverinthe
ageheterogeneouscommunityofAlachuaCounty,Florida. Respondentswere
interviewedonayearlybasisoverathree-yearperiodconcerningtheirdrinking
practices,socialrelationships,personalperceptions,andattitudesabout
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drinking. Structuralequationmodelingshowsthat,overtime,sociallearning
theoryexplainsasignificantportionofthevarianceassociatedwithdrinking
behavioroftheelderly(86percent). Thestabilityofdrinkingbehavioramongthe
elderlyislargelyafunctionofthestabilityofsociallearningfactors. Results
demonstratethatsociallearningvariablesarebetterpredictorsofcurrent
drinkingbehaviorthaneveninformationconcerningpastdrinkingbehavior.
x