Alcohol use and social interactions among adolescents in Sweden: do peer effects exist within and/or between the majority population and immigrants?
Are adolescents who attend schools with a high level of alcohol use and binge drinking more likely to use alcohol and binge drink themselves? This paper analyzes peer effects in adolescent drinking based on a survey of 13,070 adolescents conducted in Sweden in 2005. The empirical analysis uses a multi-level logistic model to account for non-observable heterogeneity between the schools and the results show that attending a school with a high level of alcohol use and frequent binge drinking is a strong predictor of alcohol use and binge drinking for the individual. Hardly any significant interaction effects are detected, implying that peer influence is similar across different adolescent sub-groups. Looking at adolescents with different ethnic backgrounds, it is found that the drinking-pattern of the Swedish majority population has a significant effect on drinking by Swedish individuals and immigrants from Nordic and European countries, but no effect on drinking by immigrants from non-European countries.
Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden. mikael.svensson@oru.se
Mikael
M
Svensson
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D036262:Empirical Research; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D010379:Peer Group; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology