The Indirect Effects of Social Network Characteristics and Normative Beliefs in the Association between Adolescent Depressive Symptomatology and Binge Drinking

ABSTRACT

Adolescents who experience depression have different attributional styles and may overestimate how much alcohol their friends consume. This misperception may increase binge drinking among adolescents with depressive symptomatology. The social networks of adolescents with depressive symptomatology are systematically different, providing different social learning opportunities. Using Add Health, we find that individuals who suffer from depressive symptomatology are more likely to have peers with higher depression scores. Adolescents with higher depressive symptomatology are more likely to perceive their peers as drinking alcohol. Our results suggest that normative beliefs are the key mediator in explaining the association between depressive symptomatology and binge drinking.

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Notes on contributors

Michelle N. Harris

MICHELLE N. HARRIS is a doctoral student at Georgia State University in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. She holds a B.A. in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Arkansas and a M.S. in criminal justice and criminology from Georgia State University. Her research interests include substance abuse prevention, criminal justice and mental illness, mental illness and violence, and criminological theory.

Brent Teasdale

BRENT TEASDALE is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University’s Crime, Law, and Justice program. He has published extensively on issues of violence by and against people with mental illness and substance abuse prevention. His co-edited book titled Preventing Crime and Violence is due in print in late 2016.