Second, the cross-lagged models revealed a consistent pattern in which alcohol use and smoking behaviors at ages 12 and 14 predicted lower educational achievement at later time points even when previous achievement and potential confounding by parental factors and adolescent behavior problems were adjusted for. However, although lower school achievement predicted a higher likelihood of engaging in smoking behaviors it did not predict later alcohol use. Thus, our findings suggest that for any drinking and drinking to intoxication in adolescence, the direction of the association runs from more frequent alcohol use to lower educational achievement, whereas bidirectional associations for smoking behaviors and education were suggested.
