Family Relationships, Peer Bullying and Alcohol Use among Adolescents

Alcohol consumption is the subject of many studies related to the risky behavior of adolescents and one of the main public health problems worldwide. There are few Russian studies of alcohol consumption by adolescents in relation to family relationships. Much attention was paid to the influence of parents' alcohol behavior: the link between parents' alcoholism and their children’s addiction to alcohol, rather than family relationships. Little is known about factors that can mediate, that is, soften or strengthen, the relationship between family conditions and alcohol consumption by adolescents. The aim of the study is to identify and quantify the mediating effect bullying involment on the link between family relationships and alcohol use by adolescents in Russia. Data: a survey of students from thirteen colleges in St. Petersburg ( Laboratory of Sociology in Education and Science -Higher School of Economics). Method: structural equation modeling. Results: Bullying perpetration mediates the link between family attachment and alcohol consumption by adolescents for boys (Indirect effect: -0.017, p = 0.038) and girls (Indirect effect: -0.049, p = 0.005). Bullying victimization does not (Indirect effect: -0.004, p = 0.393 for boys and Indirect effect: -0.013, p = 0.103 for girls).