Emotional wellbeing and violence among social and solitary risky single occasion drinkers in adolescence

Objectives To classify adolescents according to risky single occasion drinking and to test whether these groups (RSOD) and their level of social integration, (social non-RSODs, social RSODs, solitary non-RSODs, solitary RSODs) differ in terms of emotional well-being and violence-related variables. Method K-means cluster and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed based on a cross-sectional national representative sample of 3861 8th and 9th graders in Switzerland (mean age 15.3; SD = 0.88). Results Although RSODs in general appear to be more violent, social RSODs tend to be more violent than solitary RSODs. Although RSODs reveal a lower life solitary RSODs satisfaction generally and tend to have more depressive moods, are even less satisfied and more depressive. In addition, the latter tend to have lower self-esteem and are more often victims of bullying. Conclusions RSODs are not a homogeneous group of adolescents and preventive efforts, such as competence-enhancing and social resistance programmes, should be applied in accordance with the constellation of associated problems: solitary RSODs appear to be socially inhibited, depressive and often victims of bullying, whereas social RSODs appear to be socially accepted but are prone to be violent offenders.