What role do school connectedness and school environment have in influencing how adversity shapes the formation of alcohol expectancies in alcohol-naïve adolescents?

This study examines the role of school connectedness and school environment in the relationship between early life adversity and alcohol use expectancies (positive and negative) in alcohol-naïve adolescents, using longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. The main analysis tests both unique effects of specific adversity types and categorical adversity burden effects (0, 1, or 2+ types) for adversities experienced before age 10. A supplementary analysis examines categorical adversity burden using a cumulative exposure approach (ever experienced by age 13) to assess whether moderating effects of school factors differ with expanded measurement windows. We also test developmental timing effects by examining school factors measured at different time points. Given that there is limited prior research examining the moderating role of school factors in the association between early life adversity and alcohol use expectancies, this investigation is exploratory in nature.