Are school strategies based on information useful to increase adolescents risk perception about alcohol? Moderated mediation analyses of individual, peers and parental drinking

Following McLeroy’s socio-ecological model , the present study tested whether school strategies based on information about substance use moderated the mediational effect of adolescent risk perception of alcohol use in the association between peers/parental alcohol use and adolescent drinking. Data were analyzed from a national representative survey that included 35,369 participants aged 14-18 (50.1% female). Data were weighted and standardized. Moderated mediation models were conducted. Across four models tested, school information had a significative effect increasing risk perception. Mediation models were significant at the two levels of the moderator, confirming the protective effect of high risk perception of alcohol use in the relation between peers/parental alcohol use and adolescent drinking. School information about substance use did not buffer the impact of parental alcohol use on adolescent risk perception. In contrast, school information about substance use potentiates the protective effect of risk perception in the relationship between peers drinking and adolescent alcohol use. School information about substance use moderates the impact of peer alcohol use on adolescent drinking by increasing the risk perception of alcohol consumption. Therefore, educational strategies are needed to weaken peer influences. The attenuation of parental influences might require intervention in other settings or including elements other than just giving information.