Alcohol use, delinquency and victimisation among young people in Europe: results of an international multicentre study (ISRD-2)

The existence of a significant correlation between alcohol use and crime has long been acknowledged in the scientific literature. Moreover, alcohol use constitutes a serious public health problem. Several studies have shown that alcohol plays a prominent role in the genesis of deviant behaviour, especially among the young. In order to ascertain the existence of significant relationships among alcohol use, delinquency and victimisation among young people, and to describe the nature and characteristics of such relationships, a database was set up to record the results of the “International Self-Report Delinquency Study 2”. This database was created by selecting a sample of young people (N=57,771) of both sexes, aged between 12 and 16 years, in 25 European countries. The research focused chiefly on the role of alcohol use and the various modes of alcohol consumption, and sought to analyse the influence exerted by different life situations (age, sex, lifestyle, friendships and personality traits). Alcohol consumption proved to be a very widespread phenomenon among young people, particularly among youths who commit crimes and those who are victims of crime. Moreover, it emerged that the abuse of alcohol was the consumption modality most closely associated with both delinquency and victimisation. Alcohol consumption was seen to correlate more closely with the involvement in violent crime than with property offences. A possible explanation for this could be that, since alcohol exerts a pharmacological effect which simultaneously heightens aggression and blunts certain cognitive capacities, its consumption may play a greater role in the commission of unplanned offences. The analyses conducted on the relationship between the involvement in alcohol use and various psychosocial factors, such as lifestyle, personality traits (self-control and inclination to violence) and belonging to delinquent youth groups, yielded particularly significant results. When the results recorded in each country were examined individually, the association between alcohol use and delinquency was confirmed in all geographical settings, despite the considerable social and cultural differences. In particular, it emerged that, in all of the countries considered, alcohol use was more closely associated with involvement in violent crime than with property offences. The results yielded by the present study indicate that alcohol use is strongly associated with both delinquency and victimisation among young people in Europe, and that so-called “binge drinking” is the consumption modality most closely associated with both offending and being offended against. In conclusion, alcohol, delinquency and victimisation are closely related with one another. The nature and characteristics of these relationships suggest that the associations between alcohol use and delinquency and between victimisation and alcohol consumption are reciprocal rather than one-directional. Consequently, alcohol use constitutes a risk factor for criminal behaviour and victimisation. Likewise, involvement in delinquency and being the victim of crime increase the risk of alcohol consumption, and especially of alcohol abuse.