Birth Order and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The mediating role of Quality of Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Parental Monitoring

Abstract

Lately, a risky behavior that has been of concern in the Netherlands is alcohol intoxication in adolescents. Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between birth order and risky behavior, however, there are but a few studies that looked specifically into the association between birth order and adolescent alcohol use. Moreover, the possible factors explaining this relationship are still mostly unknown. This study examined the relationship between birth order and adolescent alcohol use taking into account the mediating roles of parent-adolescent relationship quality (support and conflict) and parental monitoring. A total of 3450 participants were drawn from a larger 3-wave study called “The Adolescent Risk-Taking (ART) Project” from various schools in the Netherlands. Results indicated that there was no relationship between birth order and adolescent alcohol use. Moreover, birth order was not associated with parental factors. Nonetheless, parent-adolescent conflict and parental monitoring were significantly predictive of alcohol use.