Predictors of Drinking and Signs of Heavy Drinking among High School Students

Abstract

The relative importance of social characteristics, parental drinking and parental rejection and control were obtained from 1439 students in 2 high schools. Most students drank, but most drank infrequently (less than once a week and 1 or 2 drinks at a time). Multivariate analysis using the MCA [Multiple Classification Analysis] program indicated that students who frequently got drunk were those who were heavy drinkers, drank away from home and in cars and whose drinking was not known to their parents. Parents'' drinking and parental rejection and control had little unique explanatory power. Parental modeling may be of most importance at the outset of drinking, whereas place and extent of drinking is most important in predicting the signs of heavy drinking.