Presenter(s)
Alanna Hartman
Abstract
Alcohol abuse has become a problematic phenomenon among young adults. Previous studies have found that parental communication with low warmth leads to greater risk for alcohol abuse later in life. We predict there is going to be a positive correlation between negative parental communication and alcohol abuse. Self-esteem has also been shown to have a relationship with alcohol abuse in previous research. We hypothesize that self-esteem would negatively correlate with alcohol abuse in the current study. Additionally, the literature suggests a relationship between self-esteem and parental communication. Given the relationships among these variables, we predict that self-esteem would partially or fully mediate the parental communication and alcohol abuse relationship. Methods: Participants (N=179) completed a survey with questions regarding parental communication (father and mother), self-esteem, and alcohol abuse. Results: There were strong correlations between father communication and alcohol abuse, r = -.212, p < .001 and mother communication and alcohol abuse, r = -.227, p < .001. There were also strong correlations between self-esteem and father communication, r = .415, p < .001 and self-esteem and mother communication, r = .318, p < .001. There was not a correlation between self- esteem and alcohol abuse. Since there was no relationship between self-esteem and alcohol abuse, we did not run a mediation analysis. Discussion: Our result confirms that there is a relationship between self-esteem and parental communication. However, our hypotheses regarding parental communication and alcohol abuse as well as self-esteem and alcohol abuse were not supported. We predicted that negative parental communication would be positively correlated to alcohol abuse and our result showed high negative correlations between these variables. Therefore, there might some other problems that are leading to alcohol abuse, or some other factor entirely. Meaning that negative communication could be leading to depression or anxiety, which puts the individual at greater risk for alcohol abuse or potentially a lack of communication altogether is leading to alcohol abuse. Future research could look deeper into this relationship to determine what is causing the negative correlation between parental communication and alcohol abuse. There was no relationship found between self-esteem and alcohol abuse in the current study. There is a lot of debate on whether low or high self-esteem was a bigger predictor of alcohol abuse. One study found that high self-esteem was a greater predictor suggesting that high self-esteem needs to be look at as a predictor for alcohol abuse. This could be the reason why we found no relationship between self-esteem and alcohol abuse. Future research could take a closer look at alcohol abuse and self-esteem and determine if there is a relationship between these variables and if high or low self-esteem is a greater predictor for alcohol abuse.
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department
Psychology
Campus
Winona
First Advisor/Mentor
Robert Casselman
Location
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Start Date
4-23-2026 10:00 AM
End Date
4-23-2026 11:00 AM
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Format of Presentation or Performance
In-Person
Session
1b=10am-11am
Poster Number
32
Effects of Parental Communication on Alcohol Use and Self-Esteem as a Mediating Variable
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Alcohol abuse has become a problematic phenomenon among young adults. Previous studies have found that parental communication with low warmth leads to greater risk for alcohol abuse later in life. We predict there is going to be a positive correlation between negative parental communication and alcohol abuse. Self-esteem has also been shown to have a relationship with alcohol abuse in previous research. We hypothesize that self-esteem would negatively correlate with alcohol abuse in the current study. Additionally, the literature suggests a relationship between self-esteem and parental communication. Given the relationships among these variables, we predict that self-esteem would partially or fully mediate the parental communication and alcohol abuse relationship. Methods: Participants (N=179) completed a survey with questions regarding parental communication (father and mother), self-esteem, and alcohol abuse. Results: There were strong correlations between father communication and alcohol abuse, r = -.212, p < .001 and mother communication and alcohol abuse, r = -.227, p < .001. There were also strong correlations between self-esteem and father communication, r = .415, p < .001 and self-esteem and mother communication, r = .318, p < .001. There was not a correlation between self- esteem and alcohol abuse. Since there was no relationship between self-esteem and alcohol abuse, we did not run a mediation analysis. Discussion: Our result confirms that there is a relationship between self-esteem and parental communication. However, our hypotheses regarding parental communication and alcohol abuse as well as self-esteem and alcohol abuse were not supported. We predicted that negative parental communication would be positively correlated to alcohol abuse and our result showed high negative correlations between these variables. Therefore, there might some other problems that are leading to alcohol abuse, or some other factor entirely. Meaning that negative communication could be leading to depression or anxiety, which puts the individual at greater risk for alcohol abuse or potentially a lack of communication altogether is leading to alcohol abuse. Future research could look deeper into this relationship to determine what is causing the negative correlation between parental communication and alcohol abuse. There was no relationship found between self-esteem and alcohol abuse in the current study. There is a lot of debate on whether low or high self-esteem was a bigger predictor of alcohol abuse. One study found that high self-esteem was a greater predictor suggesting that high self-esteem needs to be look at as a predictor for alcohol abuse. This could be the reason why we found no relationship between self-esteem and alcohol abuse. Future research could take a closer look at alcohol abuse and self-esteem and determine if there is a relationship between these variables and if high or low self-esteem is a greater predictor for alcohol abuse.
Comments
Hartman, Alanna