Association between drinking and victimisation among Finnish adolescents: estimating the extent of the spurious effect

Abstract

Aims

This paper examines how the frequency of adolescent drinking predicts total violent victimisation (while sober or intoxicated) vs. victimisation while sober.

Background

The general correlations between alcohol use and violence among adolescents are well established. However, the nature of the association is less clear. While some findings show that drinking predicts violence in general, others claim that drinking predicts violence only when the offender is intoxicated. If the latter is true, the association appears causal rather than spurious. Recent research led by Felson has examined the issue with respect to adolescent offenders. The purpose of our study is to apply the same methodological approach to adolescent victimisation.

Data

The analysis is based on data of 9^th graders (N= 5,775) in the Finnish Child Victim Survey 2008.

Results

Our findings suggest that there are gender differences in adolescents’ alcohol use and victimisation. Among frequently-drinking boys the high risk of victimisation is attributable to violent situations while intoxicated. Among girls the connection between the frequency of drinking and victimisation seemed mostly spurious, as the girls who consumed alcohol often were victimised also when sober.