Consequences of Alcohol Use: Truancy as a Mediator between Drinking and Achievement

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents may experience and engage in many risky consequences and behaviors after drinking. It is important to consider the consequences of substance use as these consequences can be helpful in developing feasible and effective school-based prevention programs.

Methods: This paper capitalizes on the use of a nationally representative dataset to consider the consequence of truancy as a result of drinking as a mediator on the relationship between alcohol use and academic achievement.

Results: By examining the relative impact of malleable factors such as truancy, this paper finds a full mediation for students who attend school but do not attend classes.

Conclusion: This result implies that much of the variance in the negative relationship between current alcohol use and academic performance is explained by students cutting class as a result of their drinking. This factor is discussed in terms of how schools can reduce alcohol use risk consequences.

Keywords:

• Alcohol use
• academic achievement
• adolescence
• mediation
• substance use
• truancy

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse [grant number T32 DA 017629].