Psychosocial correlates of alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking among Italian adolescents: Data from the second International Self-Reported Delinquency study.

Abstract

To provide a comprehensive picture of the wide spectrum of psychosocial factors potentially associated with alcohol consumption and problematic drinking among Italian adolescents in order to encourage debate on the context-specificity or universality of psychosocial correlates of adolescent alcohol use and misuse across countries and cultures. The International Self-Report Delinquency survey questionnaire was used to assess several variables concerning sociodemographic background, family relationships and problems, school performance and climate, life events, victimization experiences, neighborhood climate, personality traits, and attitudes, delinquent behavior, drug use, and peers behavior in a city-based sample of 6,363 seventh to ninth grade Italian students. Generalized linear regression models showed that recent alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking were associated with multiple factors pertaining to different levels and domains reflecting the adolescent's personality and behavior as well as the different social and cultural contexts in which adolescents spend most of their time. Poor relations with parents, parental divorce, positive attitudes toward violence, and low self-control appeared to precede recent alcohol use and misuse and might be potential risk factors for alcohol use and/or misuse, while the association between problematic drinking and deviant attitudes (i.e., violent behavior, drug use, and affiliation with deviant peers) might be explained through reciprocal influences. Some psychosocial correlates of adolescent alcohol use and misuse might be universal across countries and cultures. Additionally, certain family, school, personality, behavioral, and peer-related factors might be more important than other correlates of youth alcohol use.