The contextual effect of school attachment on young adolescents' alcohol use.
BACKGROUND
The school is a primary context for social interaction, cultivation of interpersonal skills, formation of peer groups, self-expression, and development of self. Several studies have demonstrated that the social context of the school has important implications for determining the likelihood that an adolescent will follow a prosocial path through adolescence as opposed to becoming involved in delinquent behavior.


METHODS
Using a data set of 4,216 youth in 32 middle schools and junior high schools across the United States, this paper examines the effect of a student's own level of school attachment as well as the contextual level of school attachment (the normative level of school attachment in a school) on 5 alcohol-related measures: recent use of alcohol, intention to use alcohol, normative beliefs about peer use of alcohol, attitudes toward alcohol use, and aspirations consistent with alcohol use.


RESULTS
This study demonstrates that regardless of a student's own level of school attachment, students who attend schools where the pupils overall tend to be well attached to school are less likely to use alcohol. In addition, they also have lower intentions to use alcohol, perceive that fewer of their peers at school use alcohol, and more strongly hold aspirations that are inconsistent with alcohol use.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings, along with the findings of related studies, provide support for the hypothesis that improvement of school climate may result in less substance use among students.
Henry
Kimberly L
KL
Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1876, USA. kim.henry@colostate.edu
Slater
Michael D
MD
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010379:Peer Group; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology