Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of recent evidence concerning alcohol-related cognitions (knowledge, norms/attitudes, and expectancies), including from where they originate early in life and how they develop as children grow older. Such an investigation of young children’s alcohol-related cognitions is imperative as knowledge begins to be established before drinking is initiated; with what children observe and learn about alcohol at a young age a formative factor leading to future drinking behaviour. This chapter reviews and explores the often-inconsistent research on what young children know and how they learn about alcohol by exploring dominant theoretical perspectives (e.g. social learning theory) and the range of influences (e.g. parents) on alcohol-related cognitions.
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Notes
- 1.
Random choice is the accidental chance of picking an alcoholic beverage. In this study, half of the beverages were alcoholic. A one sample t-test was used to determine whether choice was significantly above the 50% random choice.
- 2.
It is worth noting that researchers have raised concerns about using ‘age at first drink’ (a concept relied upon in many of these studies). For a discussion of the potential limitations, see Kuntsche, Rossow, et al. (2016).
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Cook, M., Smit, K., Voogt, C., Kuntsche, E. (2021). Alcohol-Related Cognitions among Children Aged 2–12: Where Do They Originate From and How Do They Develop?. In: Cooke, R., Conroy, D., Davies, E.L., Hagger, M.S., de Visser, R.O. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Psychological Perspectives on Alcohol Consumption. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66941-6_15
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