The Multilevel Effects of Political Orientation and Political Climate on Substance Use Among Adolescents

BACKGROUND: The present study focuses on the extent to which individual political orientation and political school climate are related to the use of alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, and e-cigarettes. METHODS: We sampled 11,114 Belgian (Dutch-speaking) students from 44 secondary schools in the four highest grades (age 14-18). RESULTS: Left-wing orientation predicted lower substance use, while radical-right orientation predicted higher use. No main effect of left-wing school climate emerged, but several cross-level interactions showed that individual political orientation effects depend on school context. A noteworthy finding was that radical-right orientation predicted greater substance use most strongly in radical-right climates. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings highlight the contextual nature of political orientation: individual-level effects are moderated by the school-level political climate. Given the elevated levels of substance use among radical right-wing individuals in radical right school climates, we suggest that policy efforts should foster adolescents' critical reasoning about science versus pseudoscience.