SOCIAL-CONTEXT, SENSATION SEEKING, AND TEENAGE ALCOHOL-ABUSE

An anonymous questionnaire was administered to more than 1,200 seventh to 12th grade students in four rural public schools in western New Yo rk State. The questionnaire measured alcohol use, the social contexts of drinking, and the personality trait known as ''sensation seeking. ' ' A majority (57%) were drinkers, and discriminant function analyses w ere performed on their scores on these measures to determine if they c ould distinguish between different levels of alcohol use intensity, al cohol-impaired driving, and riding with an impaired driver. Results in dicated social context measures were effective in distinguishing among levels on each indicant of abuse. In particular, high-intensity drink ers, impaired drivers, and riders of impaired drivers were more likely to drink in a context of social facilitation, stress control, and def iance of school and adult authority. The drinking context of peer acce ptance was important only in distinguishing teen-agers who ride with d runk drivers from those who do not. Overall, the sensation seeking tra it was of moderate importance in distinguishing among different alcoho l abuse practices. Implications of these findings for assessment as we ll as school-based prevention programs are discussed.