Peer Influences on Adolescent Drinking

Questionnaires on drinking behavior and attitudes were completed by 1,410 white male seniors from 30 urban and rural high schools in the eastern and Piedmont sections of North Carolina. In these regions the major religious denominations vigorously promote total abstinence; although over one-third of the subjects reported drinking to some extent, 65% believed drinking was wrong as a matter of principle, including 40% of the drinkers. The study confirmed the hypothesis that the primary sources of pressures to drink and of social support for drinking are found within the adolescent society, and that these pressures affect the behavior of both drinkers and abstainers. The percentage of adolescents who drank varied from 12 among those whose parents are opposed to drinking and whose best friends abstain, to 89 among those whose parents are not opposed and whose two best friends use alcohol. The frequency of alcohol use by drinkers was directly related to the amount of social support for drinking they received from both parents and peers: among those who do not drink with either parents or best friends, only 8% used alcohol as often as once a week, compared with 4.3% of those who drink with both parents and best friends. The majority of nondrinkers reported experiencing pressures to drink: 56%, 69% and 74% of those with no, one and two drinking friends, respectively. Pressures to drink and drinking by peers were also related to nondrinkers' tasting alcoholic beverages: of those with no drinking friends 49% had tasted alcohol and experienced pressures, compared with 74% of those with drinking friends. Having friends who drink, tasting alcohol and experiencing pressures to drink increased the likelihood that the nondrinker would feel curious about drinking: 87% of the nondrinking tasters with drinking friends, compared with 51% of the nontasters with no drinking friends, felt curious. Both curiosity about drinking and having tasted alcohol previously were positively associated with the possibility that the nondrinkers would begin to drink in the future, but were negatively associated with the number of drinking friends of the nontasters: 33% of the curious tasters with drinking friends, compared with none of the nontasters, reported the likelihood of becoming drinkers. Pressures to drink are widespread in the adolescent subculture and are directly related to the peer relations of the adolescent. The behavior of the adolescent's friends not only has importance in determining whether or not he will begin drinking, but also influences other behavior and attitudes toward alcohol. The study has demonstrated the utility of studying adolescent drinking as social behavior intimately linked to the behavior of the adolescent's peers.