Interpersonal aggressive behaviour and alcohol consumption among young urban adolescents in France

In order to supplement existing studies of deviant populations (alcoholics, drug addicts, jailed delinquents) and to bring to light the existence of early relationships between aggressiveness and alcohol consumption, an epidemiological survey was carried out among 1601 adolescents (aged 13-16) from a suburban area of Paris. Some types of the aggressive behaviour studied were more socially acceptable--breaking objects, hitting people, fighting--than others--threatening to use or using physical violence to obtain money or objects from people. A majority of the adolescents had already demonstrated violent behaviour, 41% showed repetitive delinquent behaviour, and 12% cumulated several types of such behaviour. The aggressive teenagers differed from the non-aggressive subjects firstly in their alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug consumption, and secondly with respect to other deviant behaviour, such as stealing, running away from home or violent victimization. A logistic regression analysis highlighted the relative importance of each type of delinquent behaviour and of the early onset of regular alcohol consumption. The discussion focuses on the complex relationship between violence and alcohol consumption.