Alcohol use, self-esteem, depression, and suicidality in high school students.

DeSimone, Adrienne ; Murray, Patricia ; Lester, David 等

A number of studies have indicated that adolescents who refrain from drinking alcohol have higher self-esteem than do adolescents who drink (Butler, 1980; Young, Werch, & Bakema 1989). Other studies report that adolescents who refrain from drinking are less depressed than those who drink (Workman & Beer, 1989). These associations have also been noted in college students. For example, Deykin, Levy, and Wells (1986) found that alcohol use and depression were associated in college students.

Some of these studies measured alcohol abuse; the present study explored whether the same associations would be found for alcohol use in general. In addition, the present study examined these associations in high school and college students who were both under and over the legal drinking age of 21.

METHOD

The questionnaire used in this study included the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale (Moberg, 1983) which has fourteen questions about alcohol use, the Rosenberg (1965) Self-esteem Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961).

The questionnaire was administered anonymously to 140 high school students (55 males and 85 females; mean age = 15.7, SD = 1.0); 53 college students aged 18-20 (21 males and 32 females, mean age = 19.3, SD = 0.7; and 33 college students 21 years or older (14 males and 19 females, mean age = 23.2, SD = 4.3).

RESULTS

For the high school students, the frequency of drinking (ranging from never to every day) was associated with depression (Pearson r = 0.23, one-tailed p [is less than] .01), indicating that respondents who drank more often were more depressed, but was not associated with age, gender, self-esteem, or a history of having considered, threatened or attempted suicide. Depression and self-esteem scores were negatively associated (r = -0.59, p [is less than] .001), indicating that the more depressed respondents had lower self-esteem. In a multiple regression analysis, frequency of use of alcohol was associated positively with both depression and self-esteem, but not significantly with age and gender.

For college students, depression was associated with the frequency of alcohol use for students below (r = 0.38, p [is less than] .01) and above (r = 0.28, p = .06) the legal drinking age. For students aged 18-20 multiple regression analysis indicated that depression was positively associated with frequency of alcohol use, and that males used alcohol more frequently than did females; for students 21 years of age and older, none of the variables were associated with frequency of use.

For those who did use alcohol at least once or twice a year, a total alcohol involvement score could be obtained by summing the scores on all 14 items of the alcohol involvement scale. For the high school students, the total alcohol involvement scores were not associated with age, gender, depression, self-esteem or a history of thinking about or threatening suicide. Higher alcohol involvement scores were associated with having attempted suicide in the past (point biserial r = 0.25, p [is less than] .05). In the multiple regression analysis, alcohol misuse was positively associated with both depression and self-esteem.

For college students under the legal drinking age, however, alcohol involvement was associated with age (r = -0.42, p [is less than] .01), depression (r = 0.54, p [is less than] .001), self-esteem (r = -0.30, p [is less than] .05), and current suicidal ideation on item nine of the Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.36, p [is less than] .01), but not with gender or a history of having thought about or threatened suicide. In the multiple regression analysis, alcohol misuse was positively associated with depression, being male, and being younger.

For college students over the age of 20, some of the items or the alcohol involvement scale did not apply; thus, total alcohol involvement scores were not explored.

DISCUSSION

The findings indicated that the students who drank more often and who misused alcohol were more depressed. In contrast, those who drank more often and misused alcohol had higher self-esteem scores. This finding regarding self-esteem is contrary to that found in other studies and, therefore, to the expectations of this study. It may be that the students who drank more often and who misused alcohol were "faking good" on the self-esteem scale but, if this is the case, the question arises as to why they did not fake good on the depression scale. However, not all studies report an association between alcohol use and low self-esteem (Workman & Beer (1989).

The association between alcohol use and depression was found in the high school students, college students under the age of 21, and in students aged 21 or older. Thus, this association appears to be robust. Examining the association between alcohol use and depression for each item of the alcohol involvement scale, it can be seen that the association was general and, perhaps, stronger for college students under the legal drinking age.

Table 1
Correlations between items on the alcohol involvement scale and depression

 high school college college
 students students students
 18-20 21+

1 frequency of drinking 0.23(**) 0.38(**) 0.28
2 when S last had a drink 0.18(*) 0.30(*) 0.18
3 why S started drinking 0.15(*) 0.43(***) -0.11
4 what kind of drink 0.16(*) 0.25(*) 0.07
5 how S obtains drinks 0.16(*) 0.35(**) -
6 age at first drink 0.04 0.23 0.15
7 time of day for drinking 0.08 -0.07 0.41(*)
8 why S first drank 0.17(*) 0.44(***) 0.31(*)
9 how much drank 0.02 0.43(***) 0.43(**)
10 whom S drinks with 0.16(*) 0.25(*) 0.29
11 effect of alcohol on mind -0.04 0.30(*) 0.23
12 effect of alcohol on life 0.18(*) 0.27(*) -0.04
13 how S feels about drinking 0.08 0.45(***) 0.18
14 how others see S 0.22(*) 0.53(***) 0.02

* one-tailed p [is less than] .05

** one-tailed p [is less than] .01

*** one-tailed p [is less than] .001

REFERENCES

Beck, A. T. Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 561-571.

Butler, J. T. (1982). Early adolescent alcohol consumption and self-concept, social class and knowledge of alcohol. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 43, 603-607.

Deykin, E. Y., Levy, J. C., & Well, V. (1987). Adolescent depression, alcohol and drug abuse. American Journal of Public Health, 77, 178-182.

Moberg, D. P. (1983). Identifying adolescents with alcohol problems. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 44, 701-721.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Workman, M., & Beer, J. (1989). Self-esteem, depression, and alcohol dependency among high school students. Psychological Reports, 65, 451-455.

Young, M., Werch, C. E., & Bakema, S. (1989). Area specific self-esteem scales and substance abuse among elementary and middle-school children. Journal of School Health, 59, 251-254.