ADOLESCENT DRINKING, SMOKING AND OTHER SUBSTANCE USE INVOLVEMENT - LINKS WITH PERCEIVED FAMILY-LIFE

In this study we examined the relationship of adolescents' perceived family environment to several aspects of their self-reported alcohol use, smoking behaviour, and involvement with ''hard'' drugs, stimulants/sedatives, hallucinogens, cannabis, ecstasy, and solvents. A sample of 1045 secondary school pupils aged 12-16-years-old completed anonymous and confidential questionnaires. The results showed significant relationships between perceived family life and a range of self-reported adolescent drinking, smoking and other substance use involvement variables, but these relationships varied by type of substance and were also different for male and female respondents. Specifically, males who perceived ''authoritarian'' or ''neglecting'' families reported more alcohol, cigarette and stimulant/sedative substance use behaviour. On the other hand, females who perceived ''warm-directive'' families reported less alcohol use but were more likely to say that they would smoke to cope with a problem, and these females also tended to report more stimulant/sedative-related behaviour. On the whole, females reported less substance-related behaviour than males except for smoking - which females were more likely than males to report.