Violence at school and alcohol and tobacco consumption in students of secondary education.

Abstract

Adolescence is a transitional process between childhood and adulthood (Antona, Madrid and Alaez, 2003), which involves physical, cognitive and social changes (Johnson, Roberts and Worrell, 1999). During this stage, risky behaviours are often developed, including alcohol and tobacco consumption. Alcohol is the most psychoactive substance consumed among adolescents, aged 14-18, followed by tobacco in Spain (DGPNSD, 2009). The teenagers who use alcohol and tobacco have a higher probability of having problems of aggresiveness and violence and it is also related to health problems (Bellis et al., 2005; Gil and Gil-Lacroix Lacroix, 2006; Room, Babor and Rehm, 2005). Several studies (Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin and Patton, 2001; Cangas, Gázquez, Perez-Fuentes, Moldes and Rubio, 2007; Piñero-Ruiz, López-Espín, Cherry and Torres-Cantero, 2012) have linked the presence of violence at school disturbing the environment and having negative consequences for the health and behaviour to a higher frequency in the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. In this study, 2552 questionnaires were collected with ages among 12-16 years from the Murcia Region. The results showed that students with aggressive behaviours at school have a higher frequency of alcohol and tobacco consumption. Key words: School violence, physical and psychological aggression, alcohol, tobacco, adolescence.