Abstract

Background: Aggressive behavior in adolescents, along with drug use, has become one of the great issues in education in recent years, among other things, due to its relationship with school failure and delinquency. The purpose of this paper was to find out whether social support fulfils a basic role in decision-making on drug use and the behavior of adolescents. Method: 822 high school students participated in the study (M = 14.84, SD = 0.87). Data were collected with the Peer Conflict Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and an ad hoc questionnaire on drug use. Results: The results show that drug use is significantly related to reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. It was also observed that higher use is significantly related to perceived social support by the peer group, and less support by family. Discussion: It was shown that substance use is related to perceived social support by the adolescent's peer group and to aggressive behavior. It is therefore necessary to intervene in both respects to avoid the presence of substance use in schools.