Peer and parental influences on male adolescent drinking
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 30, 2026

Social Defeat Stress Model for Adolescent C57BL/6 Male and Female Mice
Published on: March 15, 2024
L Zhang1, J W Welte, W F Wieczorek
1Research Institute on Addictions, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA.
Abstract:
Using data from males aged 16-19 in Buffalo, NY, the present study examines two social mechanisms by which parents and peers influence adolescent drinking--behavioral and attitudinal transmission--and compares the patterns of behavioral and attitudinal transmission for parents and for peers. The study also assesses the relative importance of parents and peers in accounting for adolescent alcohol behavior. The findings indicate that both alcohol behavior and attitudes of parents and peers are significant predictors of adolescent drinking. However, the prediction patterns are reversed. Parental attitudes are more important than parental alcohol behavior, while peer alcohol behavior is more important than peer attitudes. Overall, peers have more influence on adolescent drinking than parents. There is a significant interaction of parental alcohol-related attitudes and age, which indicates that parental alcohol-related attitudes exert a greater effect on younger (i.e., age 16-17) males' alcohol use.
Related Concept Videos
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth. This guiding role...
Parental Influences on Gender Typing
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping

