Family context and adoption of risky health-related lifestyles: a study of English adolescents

This chapter investigates the association between characteristics of the family context (family structure, socio-economic conditions, family activities, and parent-adolescent conflict) and the adoption of risky health related behaviours by adolescents. Using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England, our results show that living with one parent during childhood is significantly associated with early sexual intercourse, smoking, cannabis use and teenage parenthood. However, drinking alcohol heavily is not associated with the family structure. This study confirms that while lone-parent families are more common in recent years, adolescents from these families engage more in risky behaviours than their peers