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A Longitudinal Study of the Reciprocal Effects of Alcohol Use and Interpersonal Violence Among Australian Young People

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The impact of alcohol-related violence on individuals and society continues to receive attention from both media and policy makers. However, the longitudinal relationship between alcohol consumption and violence is unclear, with findings from prospective studies producing mixed results. The current study utilized Australian data from the International Youth Development Study to examine longitudinal relationships between alcohol consumption and severe interpersonal violence across the developmental periods of early adolescence to late adolescence/emerging adulthood. The full sample comprised 849 adolescents (53.8 % female) who had been followed up over a 5 year period, from Grade 7 secondary school (age 13) until Grade 11 secondary school (age 17). Cross-lagged path analysis was used to examine reciprocal relationships between alcohol consumption and interpersonal violence; analyses controlled for a range of covariates considered to be common risk factors for both behaviors. Alcohol use during early and mid adolescence was found to predict violence 2 years later, whereas a bi-directional relationship between adolescent heavy episodic drinking and violence was observed. Some of these relationships were not significant when covariates such as family conflict and affiliation with antisocial and drug using friends were included in the models. These findings suggest that risk processes begin in late childhood or very early adolescence; efforts to reduce one problem behavior are likely to reduce the other. Further, the role that social and family contexts have in influencing the relationships between alcohol use and interpersonal violence should be considered in future research to better inform preventive efforts.

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Acknowledgments

Grant support was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA012140-05), the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (R01AA017188-01), the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (Project Number 594793) and the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (DPO663371, DPO877359 and DP1095744). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsors. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to project staff and participants for their valuable contribution to the project.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author Contributions

K. S-B conceived the design of this paper, completed the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript. S. H contributed to the design of the original study and the design of this paper, provided advice on statistical analyses and contributed to critical redrafting of the manuscript. P. K contributed to the design of the design of this paper, provided advice on statistical analyses and contributed to critical redrafting of the manuscript. J. T. contributed to the design of the original study and the design of this paper, provided advice on statistical analyses and contributed to critical redrafting of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia

    Kirsty E. Scholes-Balog & Sheryl A. Hemphill

  2. McCaughey Centre, School of Population Health, Melbourne University, Melbourne, VIC, 3053, Australia

    Peter Kremer

  3. Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, 3215, Australia

    John W. Toumbourou

  4. Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, 3052, Australia

    John W. Toumbourou

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  1. Kirsty E. Scholes-Balog
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  4. John W. Toumbourou
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Correspondence to Kirsty E. Scholes-Balog.

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Scholes-Balog, K.E., Hemphill, S.A., Kremer, P. et al. A Longitudinal Study of the Reciprocal Effects of Alcohol Use and Interpersonal Violence Among Australian Young People. J Youth Adolescence 42, 1811–1823 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9910-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9910-z

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