Peer Pressure and Emotional Intelligence as Predictors of Alcohol and Drug Abuse amongst Adolescents

Adolescence is the period of progressive developmental changes from late childhood to the beginning of adulthood. Adolescence is characterised by significant existential conflicts as well as by increased vulnerability to the behaviour of alcohol and drug abuse. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between peer pressure, emotional intelligence and alcohol and drug attitude among adolescents. To achieve the purpose, the sample of 500 students (N=500) in the age range of 15-19 years from the state of Haryana, India, was taken. The measures of Alcohol and Drug Attitude Scale (Singh & Saini, 2010), Peer Pressure Scale (Singh & Saini, 2010), and Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (Schutte et al., 1998) were administered on the participants. Results of Pearson’s product moment correlation and linear regression established peer pressure as the major predictor of alcohol and drug attitude among adolescents