Risky Family Environment, Rumination, Drinking to Cope, and Problematic Alcohol Use: A Cross-National Examination Among College Students

Objectives: This study examined the relationships between risky family environments (conflictual, controlling, or aggressive parent-child [or other family members] relations), ruminative thinking, drinking to cope (DTC), and negative alcohol-related consequences among college students across seven countries (U.S., Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Spain, South Africa, and England). Specifically, this study aimed to examine whether a risky family environment is a risk factor for problematic alcohol use via rumination and DTC motives among college students using a cross-national approach. Method: Participants (n = 4016; 72.7% female) were college students who consumed alcohol in the past 30 t and completed measures of risky family environment and negative alcohol-related consequences. A saturated path model (risky family environment→ruminative thinking facets→DTC→negative alcohol-related consequences) was used to test the proposed model, controlling for alcohol use quantity. Multi-group models assessed invariance of these relationships across gender and country groupings. Results: A significant double indirect effect was found such that greater risky family environment was associated with greater ruminative thinking (i.e., problem-focused thoughts), which in turn was associated with more DTC, which in turn was associated more negative alcohol-related consequences. Model results were invariant across gender and country groupings. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize the importance of addressing risky family dynamics and problem-focused thought patterns in interventions to reduce problematic alcohol use among college students. Future research is needed to establish causal relationships and explore additional factors influencing these patterns globally.