A comparison of young drinking offenders with other adolescents

Interviews with 104 youths convicted of an underage alcohol offence (young drinking offenders), 30 youths convicted of an offence not involving alcohol (delinquents) and 31 youths with no convictions (comparison group) were conducted. Young drinking offenders and delinquents differed from the comparison group, but not each other, on measures of attitude, drinking behaviour and problems, other drug use and previous criminal activities. However, the young drinking offenders did differ from the delinquents on measures of social environment. The high levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol problems reported by the young drinking offenders and delinquents reveal large numbers of problem drinkers in these two groups. It is proposed that the deviant behaviour displayed by these two groups may be a result of similar underlying processes, which can be modified by social environment factors.