NCJ Number
222725
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 537-551
Date Published
May 2008
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined concurrent and lagged effects of deviant peer association on levels of alcohol use for male and female adolescents in East Germany.
Abstract
Results indicated consistent concurrent effects of deviant peer association on alcohol use for boys, which were largely limited to the regular users, and generally no significant lagged effects of deviant peer association. The results were similar for girls, with evidence in support of lagged effects being slightly stronger, but still inconsistent over time, compared to boys. Germany ranks continuously in the top group of alcohol-consuming countries. It is a country where drinking is more culturally embedded in daily life compared to countries such as the United States. Deviant peer association is linked to concurrent levels of alcohol use among German adolescents, while controlling for other factors such as an underlying propensity for deviance. This applied to both male and female adolescents. The effects of deviant peer association on adolescents' concurrent alcohol use were largely limited to the subgroup of regular users. Understanding of the processes that account for such relations may be improved if they are examined within the context of a multiple-pathway framework. The findings suggest a need to consider heterogeneity in the study of peer characteristics and alcohol use for both male and female adolescents. Data were collected from a nine-wave panel study (over 10 years) in former East Germany called the Younger Cohort of Leipzig Schuler-Intervall Study. A sample was selected from 4 schools within 7 municipal districts of the city of Leipzig, and data were gathered starting at the third grader (n= 1,619); alcohol consumption started in Wave 6. Tables, references