family structure in association with alcohol use among adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Context: it is proposed that family structure influences adolescent alcohol use; however, the findings are mixed, and no systematic review has been conducted to summarize the evidence. objectives: we aimed to identify the association between family structures and adolescent alcohol consumption through a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. methods: pubmed, scopus, and google scholar were searched until june 2017 for observational studies, which examined the relationship between family structure and adolescent alcohol use. a random-effects model was used to derive the overall odds ratio (or) for the likelihood of alcohol use in different non-intact families compared with intact families (adolescents growing up with both biological parents). dersimonian and liard's random-effects model was used to conduct the meta-analysis. all analyses were performed using stata software, version 11.2. results: fifty-seven articles met the eligibility criteria for the systematic review, and 29 were included in the meta-analysis. the meta-analysis revealed a significant increase in alcohol use among adolescents with non-intact families (or = 1.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 1.36) compared with adolescents with intact families in which both biological parents were present. living with one biological parent, living in a divorced family, loss of parents, and other types of the non-intact family also significantly increased the odds of alcohol use in adolescents (p < 0.05). conclusions: all types of the non-intact family were linked to adolescents' alcohol use. the family structure could have an essential role in reducing high-risk behaviors, including alcohol use and its consequences in adolescents.