PEER AND PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON MALE-ADOLESCENT DRINKING

Using data from males aged 16-19 in Buffalo, NY, the present study exa mines two social mechanisms by which parents and peers influence adole scent drinking-behavioral and attitudinal transmission-and compares th e patterns of behavioral and attitudinal transmission for parents and for peers. The study also assesses the relative importance of parents and peers in accounting for adolescent alcohol behavior. The findings indicate that both alcohol behavior and attitudes of parents and peers are significant predictors of adolescent drinking. However, the predi ction patterns are reversed. Parental attitudes are more important tha n parental alcohol behavior, while peer alcohol behavior is more impor tant than peer attitudes. Overall, peers have more influence on adoles cent drinking than parents. There is a significant interaction of pare ntal alcohol-related attitudes and age, which indicates that parental alcohol-related attitudes exert a greater effect on younger (i.e., age 16-17) males' alcohol use.