Parenting, Distress Tolerance, Time Perspective, and Emotional Regulation as Predictors of Alcohol Use Tendency Among Adolescents: A Structural Equation Modeling Study

Objective: This study examined a structural model predicting alcohol use tendency among adolescents from perceived parenting, distress tolerance, and time perspective, with emotional regulation strategies as mediators.

Methods and Materials: In this descriptive-correlational study using structural equation modeling, 591 secondary-school students from Tehran districts 7 and 8 during 2024–2025 were selected by convenience sampling: 297 boys and 294 girls, aged 16–18 years. Participants completed the Alcohol Consumption Tendency Questionnaire, Distress Tolerance Scale, Perception of Parents Scale, Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations, path analysis, and Sobel tests in SPSS-26 and AMOS-18.

Findings: The final model showed acceptable fit: GFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.072, CFI = 0.93, NFI = 0.94, AGFI = 0.93, PGFI = 0.76, χ²/df = 3.24. Predictors explained 70% of the variance in alcohol use tendency. Authoritative parenting had the strongest protective direct effect (β = −0.56, t = 19.73, p < 0.001), whereas authoritarian parenting showed the strongest risk effect (β = 0.53, t = 18.53, p < 0.001). Suppression increased alcohol use tendency (β = 0.52, p < 0.001), while reappraisal decreased it (β = −0.33, p < 0.001). Time perspective was also significant (β = −0.20, p < 0.001). Distress tolerance affected alcohol use indirectly through suppression (βindirect = −0.177, p < 0.001) and reappraisal (βindirect = −0.079, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Adolescents’ alcohol use tendency is best explained by family, temporal-cognitive, and emotional factors. Strengthening authoritative parenting, future-oriented thinking, distress tolerance, and cognitive reappraisal may reduce alcohol-related risk.