Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Neighborhood or School? Influences on Alcohol Consumption and Heavy Episodic Drinking Among Urban Adolescents

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Little is known about the relative influences of neighborhood and school on the alcohol socialization process. Survey data from the Young in Oslo Study (N = 10,038, mean age 17.1 years, 52% girls) were used to investigate the details of such influences, using cross-classified multilevel models. School and neighborhood contexts were equally important for ordinary alcohol use; however, neighborhood influences were mainly explained by individual and family factors, whereas peer-based sociocultural processes played a key role in explaining school effects. Neither context had much impact on heavy episodic drinking. The study suggests that “privileged” youth may be at risk of high alcohol consumption. Parental influences and peer-based sociocultural aspects of the school milieu should be considered in prevention efforts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amundsen, E. J. (2012). Low level of alcohol drinking among two generations of non-Western immigrants in Oslo: A multi-ethnic comparison. BMC Public Health, 12.

  • Barth, E., Moene, K. O., & Willumsen, F. (2014). The Scandinavian model—An interpretation. Journal of Public Economics, 117, 60–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borsari, B., Murphy, J. G., & Barnett, N. P. (2007). Predictors of alcohol use during the first year of college: Implications for prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 32(10), 2062–2086.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brannstrom, L. (2008). Making their mark: The effects of neighbourhood and upper secondary school on educational achievement. European Sociological Review, 24(4), 463–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brick, J. M., & Kalton, G. (1996). Handling missing data in survey research. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 5, 215–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In: R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (pp. 739–828). Hoboken: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. L., Parks, G. S., Zimmerman, R. S., & Phillips, C. M. (2001). The role of religion in predicting adolescent alcohol use and problem drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 62(5), 696–705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryden, A., Roberts, B., Petticrew, M., & McKee, M. (2013). A systematic review of the influence of community level social factors on alcohol use. Health & Place, 21, 70–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, P., & Almquist, Y. B. (2016). Are area-level effects just a proxy for school-level effects? Socioeconomic differences in alcohol consumption patterns among Swedish adolescents. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 166, 243–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cashin, J. R., Presley, C. A., & Meilman, P. W. (1998). Alcohol use in the Greek system: Follow the leader? Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 59(1), 63–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerda, M., Diez-Roux, A. V., Tchetgen, E. T., Gordon-Larsen, P., & Kiefe, C. (2010). The relationship between neighborhood poverty and alcohol use: Estimation by marginal structural models. Epidemiology, 21(4), 482–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterton, P., & Hollands, R. (2003). Urban nightscapes: Youth cultures, pleasure spaces and corporate power.. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chuang, Y. C., Ennett, S. T., Bauman, K. E., & Foshee, V. A. (2005). Neighborhood influences on adolescent cigarette and alcohol use: Mediating effects through parent and peer behaviors. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(2), 187–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotton, S., Zebracki, K., Rosenthal, S. L., Tsevat, J., & Drotar, D. (2006). Religion/spirituality and adolescent health outcomes: A review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(4), 472–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Molcho, M., Boyce, W., Holstein, B., Torsheim, T., & Richter, M. (2008). Researching health inequalities in adolescents: The development of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Family Affluence Scale. Social Science & Medicine, 66(6), 1429–1436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Beeck, H., Pauwels, L. J. R., & Put, J. (2012). Schools, strain and offending: Testing a school contextual version of General Strain Theory. European Journal of Criminology, 9(1), 52–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, E. C., Richmond, T. K., Milliren, C. E., & Subramanian, S. V. (2015). Using cross-classified multilevel models to disentangle school and neighborhood effects: An example focusing on smoking behaviors among adolescents in the United States. Health & Place, 31, 224–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagan, A. A., & Wright, E. M. (2012). The effects of neighborhood context on youth violence and delinquency: does gender matter? Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 10(1), 64–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fjaer, E. G., Pedersen, W., & Sandberg, S. (2016). Party on wheels: Mobile party spaces in the Norwegian high school graduation celebration. British Journal of Sociology, 67(2), 328–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujimoto, K., & Valente, T. W. (2013). Alcohol peer influence of participating in organized school activities: a network approach. Health Psychology, 32(10), 1084–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galea, S., Ahern, J., Tracy, M., & Vlahov, D. (2007). Neighborhood income and income distribution and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32(6), S195–S202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, H. (2003). Multilevel statistical models (3rd ed.). London: Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, K. L., Stanley, L. R., Edwards, R. W., Harkabus, L. C., & Chapin, L. A. (2009). Individual and contextual effects of school adjustment on adolescent alcohol use. Prevention Science, 10(3), 236–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoof, J., Mulder, J., Korte, J., Postel, M., & Pieterse, M. (2012). Dutch adolescent drinking places. Alcohol, 46, 687–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hox, J. J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, N., Denny, S., Sheridan, J., Zhao, J. F., & Ameratunga, S. (2016). The role of neighborhood disadvantage, physical disorder, and collective efficacy in adolescent alcohol use: a multilevel path analysis. Health & Place, 41, 24–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, I., Boyce, W. F., Simpson, K., & Pickett, W. (2006). Influence of individual- and area-level measures of socioeconomic status on obesity, unhealthy eating, and physical inactivity in Canadian adolescents. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 83(1), 139–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karriker-Jaffe, K. J. (2011). Areas of disadvantage: A systematic review of effects of area-level socioeconomic status on substance use outcomes. Drug and Alcohol Review, 30(1), 84–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karriker-Jaffe, K. J. (2013). Neighborhood socioeconomic status and substance use by U.S. adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 133(1), 212–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karriker-Jaffe, K. J., Zemore, S. E., Mulia, N., Jones-Webb, R., Bond, J., & Greenfield, T. K. (2012). Neighborhood disadvantage and adult alcohol outcomes: Differential risk by race and gender. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73(6), 865–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Y. S. (2016). Examination of the relative effects of neighborhoods and schools on juvenile delinquency: A multilevel cross-classified model approach. Deviant Behavior, 37(10), 1196–1214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kravitz-Wirtz, N. (2016). A discrete-time analysis of the effects of more prolonged exposure to neighborhood poverty on the risk of smoking initiation by age 25. Social Science & Medicine, 148, 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuipers, M. A. G., Jongeneel-Grimen, B., Droomers, M., Wingen, M., Stronks, K., & Kunst, A. E. (2013). Why residents of Dutch deprived neighbourhoods are less likely to be heavy drinkers: The role of individual and contextual characteristics. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 67(7), 587–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsche, E., Rehm, J., & Ghmel, G. (2004). Characteristics of binge drinking in Europe. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 113–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S., & Barkin, S. H. (2012). Are affluent youth truly at risk? Vulnerability and resilience across three diverse samples. Development and Psychopathology, 24(2), 429–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luthar, S. S., Barkin, S. H., & Crossman, E. J. (2013). I can, therefore I must: Fragility in the upper-middle classes. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4), 1529–1549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyman, E. L., & Luthar, S. S. (2014). Further evidence on the costs of privilege: Perfectionism in high-achieving youth at socioeconomic extremes. Psychology in the Schools, 51(9), 913–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martineau, F., Tyner, E., Lorenc, T., Petticrew, M., & Lock, K. (2013). Opulation-level interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm: An overview of systematic reviews. Preventive Medicine, 57(4), 278–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathur, C., Erickson, D. J., Stigler, M. H., Forster, J. L., & Finnegan, J. R. (2013). Individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status effects on adolescent smoking: A multilevel cohort-sequential latent growth analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 103(3), 543–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordfjaern, T., & Brunborg, G. S. (2015). Associations between human values and alcohol consumption among Norwegians in the second half of life. Substance Use & Misuse, 50(10), 1284–1293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, D. W., Ragan, D. T., Wallace, L., Gest, S. D., Feinberg, M. E., & Moody, J. (2013). Peers and the emergence of alcohol use: Influence and selection processes in adolescent friendship networks. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23(3), 500–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., & Bakken, A. (2016). Urban landscapes of adolescent substance use. Acta Sociologica, 59(2), 131–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., Bakken, A., & von oest, T. (2015). Adolescents from affluent city districts drink more alcohol than others. Addiction, 110(10), 1595–1604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., & Kolstad, A. (2000). Adolescent alcohol abstainers: Traditional patterns in new groups. Acta Sociologica, 43(3), 219–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., & von Soest, T. (2013). Socialization to binge drinking: A population-based, longitudinal study with emphasis on parental influences. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 133(2), 587–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quon, E. C., & McGrath, J. J. (2014). Subjective socioeconomic status and adolescent health: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 33(5), 433–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossow, I., & Storvoll, E. E. (2014). Long-term trends in alcohol policy attitudes in Norway. Drug and Alcohol Review, 33(3), 220–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, S. M., Jorm, A. F., & Lubman, D. I. (2010). Parenting factors assoiated with reduced adolescent alcohol use: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 44, 774–783.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvy, S. J., Pedersen, E. R., Miles, J. N. V., Tucker, J. S., & D’Amico, E. J. (2014). Proximal and distal social influence on alcohol consumption and marijuana use among middle school adolescents. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 144, 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (2005). How does community context matter? Social mechanisms and the explanation of crime. In: P. -O. Wikstrom, R. J. Sampson (Eds.), The explanation of crime: Contexts, mechanisms and development (pp. 31–60). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Raudenbush, S. (2005). Social anatomy of racial and ethnic disparities in violence. American Journal of Public Health, 95(2), 224–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(5328), 918–924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sande, A. (2002). Intoxication and rite of passage to adulthood in Norway. Contemporary Drug Problems, 29, 277–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott-Sheldon, L. A. J., Carey, K. B., Kaiser, T. S., Knight, J. M., & Carey, M. P. (2016). Alcohol interventions for Greek Letter Organizations: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 1987 to 2014. Health Psychology, 35(7), 670–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stimpson, J. P., Ju, H., Raji, M. A., & Eschbach, K. (2007). Neighborhood deprivation and health risk behaviors in NHANES III. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31(2), 215–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, B., & Musterd, S. (2011). Examining neighbourhood and school effects simultaneously: What does the Dutch evidence show? Urban Studies, 48(7), 1307–1331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teunissen, H. A., Spijkerman, R., Prinstein, M. J., Cohen, G. L., Engels, R., & Scholte, R. H. J. (2012). Adolescents’ conformity to their peers’ pro-alcohol and anti-alcohol norms: The power of popularity. Alcoholism-Clinical and Experimental Research, 36(7), 1257–1267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toft, M., & Ljunggren, J. (2016). Geographies of class advantage: The influence of adolescent neighbourhoods in Oslo. Urban Studies, 53(14), 2939–2955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viner, R. M., Ozer, E. M., Denny, S., Marmot, M., Resnick, M., Fatusi, A., & Currie, C. (2012). Adolescent Health 2 Adolescence and the social determinants of health. Lancet, 379(9826), 1641–1652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welsh, W. N., Greene, J. R., & Jenkins, P. H. (1999). School disorder: The influence of individual, institutional, and community factors. Criminology, 37(1), 73–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, I. R., Royston, P., & Wood, A. M. (2011). Multiple imputation using chained equations: Issues and guidance for practice. Statistics in Medicine, 30, 377–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, G. M. (2010). Impulsivity, Offending, and the neighborhood: Investigating the person-context nexus. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26(3), 301–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors’ Contributions

W.P. conceived the study, participated in its design and coordination and led the drafting of the manuscript. A.B. led the data collection, participated in the design, performed the statistical analysis, participated in the interpretation of the results and helped to draft the manuscript. T.v.S. participated in the design, suggested appropriate statistical techniques, participated in the interpretation of the results and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data Sharing Declaration

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Norwegian Social Research, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available.

Funding

The study received funding from Research Council of Norway (grant # 240129). Data collection was financed by the Municipality of Oslo and the Norwegian Directorate of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1096, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway

    Willy Pedersen

  2. Norwegian Social Research, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Stensberggata 26, Oslo, 0170, Norway

    Willy Pedersen & Anders Bakken

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway

    Tilmann von Soest

  4. Norway and Norwegian Social Research, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Stensberggata, 26, Oslo, 0170, Norway

    Tilmann von Soest

Authors
  1. Willy Pedersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anders Bakken
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tilmann von Soest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Willy Pedersen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All ethical aspects of the study were approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data.

Informed Consent

All parents and students were informed about the purpose of the study in advance and told that participation was voluntary. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pedersen, W., Bakken, A. & von Soest, T. Neighborhood or School? Influences on Alcohol Consumption and Heavy Episodic Drinking Among Urban Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 47, 2073–2087 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0787-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0787-0

Key words

Search

Navigation