Emotional distress, alcohol use, and peer violence among Mexican-American and European-American adolescents.

Purpose: To examine the longitudinal relations among emotional distress, alcohol use, and peer-directed violence.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with 297 young adolescents, randomly selected from the membership lists of a large health maintenance organization. Participants were aged 12-15 years, 55% were male, and were either Mexican-American (n = 147) or European-American (n = 150). Adolescents reported on their emotional distress at baseline, and on their alcohol use at 6-month follow-up. At 12-month follow-up, they reported on their involvement in peer violence, including physical fights and weapons exposure. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and multiple linear regression.

Results: Boys reported being in more physical fights than girls. Mexican-Americans reported more weapons exposure than European-Americans, but when controlling for socioeconomic status and age, these differences disappeared. For both ethnic groups, adolescents who experienced greater emotional distress later reported more alcohol use and more involvement in peer violence. For Mexican-American adolescents, alcohol use mediated the relations between emotional distress and both physical fights and weapons exposure. For European-Americans, alcohol use mediated the relations between emotional distress and physical fights, but only marginally mediated the relation between emotional distress and weapons exposure.

Conclusions: Adolescents who experience greater emotional distress are at heightened risk for using alcohol and, in turn, for becoming involved in peer violence. Mexican-American adolescents in particular may use alcohol as a means of coping with emotional distress, and alcohol use appears to facilitate involvement in peer violence.