Not being attached to school and family are predictors of alcohol abuse among adolescents, according to a study in the Journal of Counseling Psychology.

• Professors Kimberly Henry and Eugene Oetting of Colorado State University and her colleagues studied 1,064 middle school students for two years, keeping track of changes to their true or false answers to questions such as, "My family cares about what I do," "School is fun," and "My teachers like me."
• Those students who answered in a way that showed a lack of attachment to their families and schools were more likely to abuse alcohol. Another predictor of alcohol abuse was having friends who abuse alcohol.

"The study showed that the short time in junior high school is a time of Important changes for some individual adolescents," according to the report. "There are significant changes in family and school attachment and significant changes in association with alcohol-using peers. These within-person changes were accompanied by within-person changes in alcohol use."
 

Labels: alcohol_abuse, causes_of_teen_substance_abuse, families

Posted By: CRC Health Group