The effects of parental influences and respondents' norms and attitudes on black and white adult drinking patterns.

A model predicting drinking patterns among adult respondents from parental influences and respondents' norms and attitudes was tested with data from a nationwide survey of 1,947 black and 1,777 white Americans. The results showed that relationships between parental drinking background, respondents' norms and attitudes, and respondents' drinking behavior are identical for blacks and whites. Among both groups, parental influences are indirect and have a moderate influence on the respondents' norms and attitudes, which in turn are the most powerful predictors of drinking behavior. However, racial differences did emerge in the model, and they illustrate that race moderates relationships between social characteristics and norms, parental demographics and parent drinking attitudes and behavior, and respondents' social characteristics and drinking patterns. These differences were traced to religion, social status, and cultural variation between the two groups.