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it. Risk aggregation theory would suggest that if risk factors are present at the individual, familial, and neighborhood levels, they can accumulate to produce a risk level that moves the
child toward behavioral problems including alcohol involvement. As the child grows older, the risk structure often includes peer networks that are high in aggression, negative mood, and substance use. As
a result of this aggregation of risks the child is likely to develop the following: Positive expectancies about the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs; Very early onset
of alcohol use; and A stable repertoire of behaviors that is prototypical for the eventual emergence of abuse/dependence. Resilience and Risk: Key Developmental Pathways and Their Relevance to Underage Drinking
Two major risk pathways for underage drinking are the externalizing pathway (which is characterized by antisocial behavior resulting from inadequate emotional and behavioral self-control) and the internalizing pathway (which is
characterized by emotional distress from anxiety, depression, and a shy/inhibited personality). These pathways were discussed in detail in the section on the emergence of behavioral and emotional dysregulation. In contrast,
the pathways of resilience, which result in positive outcomes despite adversity and reduce the risk of underage drinking, have been less well-defined. Children on a low-risk pathway with regard to
early alcohol use have been characterized as successful in age-related developmental tasks throughout childhood. They also are more likely to have effective parents, good self-regulation skills, sound stress management, success
and engagement at school, and they are more likely to associate with prosocial peers who engage in little risky or antisocial behavior. This low-risk pathway was documented in a community
study of high-risk children (Zucker et al. 2003). The group termed “nonchallenged” initially had low levels of externalizing and internalizing traits and came from families characterized by lower genetic risk
load and lower social adversity (i.e., less fighting, less parent divorce, and lower parental psychiatric difficulty). The pattern of adaptation for these nonchallenged children remains better than that of the
other children from age 3 all the way to the early teens. Another group of children also began with low levels of externalizing and internalizing traits, but they experienced higher
adversity, alcoholic, and sometimes antisocial alcoholic home environments. These children were termed “resilient” (Zucker et al. 2003) because they showed a similar pattern of relative stability, with lower levels of
impulsivity and aggressiveness from early childhood through early adolescence, even though they were being reared in high-adversity family environments. However, these children also showed some evidence of “weathering” with regard
to internalizing traits. Anxiety, sadness, and depression were low during the preschool and early school years but rose to approach the levels of more vulnerable children by early adolescence. The
authors suggest that long-term exposure to very high family adversity eventually eroded the positive outlook these children had when they were younger. At the same time, not all resilient children
“weather out” of their initially positive adaptation. Under conditions where the initial adversity has been countered by positive social experience (e.g., the affection and nurturance of one parent despite the
alcoholism of the other) individuals continue to show positive adaptation in early adulthood (Werner 1986). Two types of positive factors have been identified in the literature on risk, competence, and
resilience. Promotive factors are factors that generally are associated with better outcomes at various levels of risk or adversity across contexts. In statistical terms, they are main effects. Protective factors
are those that are associated with better outcomes in the context of higher risk or adversity. In statistical terms, they are moderator effects (Sameroff 2000). Some factors, such as parenting,
can be both promotive and protective. Substantial research documents that good-quality parenting acts as a promotive factor with regard to many positive developmental outcomes. By the same token, good-quality parenting
also appears to play a special protective role in very risky or hazardous situations. Parenting, as with many of the most widely studied promotive and protective factors in human development,
has various dimensions across a range from desirable to undesirable. Whereas good parenting can be a promotive and a protective factor, bad parenting can be a risk or vulnerability factor
for underage drinking and many other problematic outcomes among children. Promotive factors in the case of underage alcohol use are those that predict fewer problems. Protective factors, on the other
hand, moderate the effects of risk or adversity. In the latter case, for example, a protective factor can result in lower-than-expected alcohol-related outcomes given the general level of risk for
alcohol use or alcohol use disorders. For children living in poverty in bad neighborhoods, surrounded by deviant peers who encourage underage drinking, effective parenting may have protective effects beyond the
generally positive effects of good parenting on child outcomes. Relatively few studies in the alcohol literature have focused on establishing moderators of risk, particularly in longitudinal analyses for children under
the age of 10. This article has reviewed some of the major developmental processes and mechanisms operating in the 0–10 age-group as they relate to alcohol use and early problem
use. Although most children under the age of 10 do not drink, they nonetheless are affected by a variety of forces that already are shaping their overall development and their
future behavior with regard to alcohol use. Numerous risk, vulnerability, and protective processes already are at work. Some of these factors are not specific to alcohol use, whereas others are.
The fascinating interplay of biological, psychological, and social processes that shape risk, as well as normal development, begins well before preadolescence, but becomes more obvious as puberty begins. The following
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