The protective effect of psychological suzhi on the relationship between school climate and alcohol use among Chinese adolescents

Guang-Zeng Liu,1 Yan-Gu Pan,2 Bing-Bing Li,1 Xiang-Ling Hou,3 Da-Jun Zhang11Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, People’s Republic of China; 2Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610052, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: There is some research on school climate impact on adolescent alcohol use in the Western social context; however, there is no research on school climate impact on adolescent alcohol use in China. This study aimed to explore the effect of school climate on Chinese adolescents’ alcohol use, and the moderating role of psychological suzhi between them.Methods: A total of 801 adolescents (45.8% boys, 14.96±1.66 years) completed self-reports on school climate, psychological suzhi, and alcohol use.Results: Moderation analyses revealed that both school climate and psychological suzhi significantly negatively predicted adolescents’ alcohol use, and the interaction of school climate and psychological suzhi significantly positively predicted adolescents’ alcohol use. Moreover, the effect of school climate on adolescents’ alcohol use was stronger for low psychological suzhi adolescents than high psychological suzhi adolescents.Conclusions: We can build good school climate by formulating of national level legal and regulations and good social norms, and use mature interventions or cultivation strategies to improve adolescents’ psychological suzhi in order to better play its role in protection.Keywords: school climate, psychological suzhi, alcohol use, adolescents