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Quality of Parent–Child Relationship, Family Conflict, Peer Pressure, and Drinking Behaviors of Adolescents in an Asian Context: The Case of Singapore

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Abstract

Analyzing data from a probability sample representative of secondary school students in Singapore (N = 1,599), this study examined the independent impact between the quality of mother–child relationship, the quality of father–child relationship and family conflict on the frequency of drinking and drunkenness, and whether each dyadic parent–child relationship quality and family conflict moderate the effect of direct peer pressure on the frequency of drinking and drunkenness among Singaporean adolescents. A series of ordered logit analyses revealed the following results: The quality of father–child relationship had no main effect on either drinking behavior, yet had a moderating effect on the association between direct peer pressure and drunkenness, with the stronger effect of direct peer pressure for adolescents on good terms with their fathers than for those on poor terms with their fathers. Family conflict had a main effect on drunkenness and a moderating effect on the association between direct peer pressure and the frequency of drinking, with the stronger effect of direct peer pressure on the frequency of drinking for adolescents experiencing high family conflict than those experiencing low family conflict. The importance of the father–child relationship quality and family conflict for adolescents’ well-being in Singapore as an Asian context was discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The data collection for this study was funded by National University of Singapore Academic Research Fund (R-134-051-112/133).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore, 3 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore

    Hyekyung Choo

  2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Daniel Shek

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  1. Hyekyung Choo
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  2. Daniel Shek
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Correspondence to Hyekyung Choo.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Student proportion by stream and school year in the study population and sample
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Choo, H., Shek, D. Quality of Parent–Child Relationship, Family Conflict, Peer Pressure, and Drinking Behaviors of Adolescents in an Asian Context: The Case of Singapore. Soc Indic Res 110, 1141–1157 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9977-4

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