Структура и типы потребления алкоголя российской молодежью и их родителями в 2006–2019 гг.

Abstract

We examine the main trends in alcohol consumption among young people aged 14–17 and 18–22 based on the data from “Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics” (RLMS-HSE) for the years 2006–2019. Over the years a decreasing number of young people consume alcohol and their consumption is highly irregular. For this reason, to estimate the proportion of young people consuming alcohol, we use the question “Do you consume alcohol, at least occasionally?” in the RLMS-HSE questionnaire. Based on the data for 2012–2019, we identify four types of alcohol consumption among young people: “only beer”, “vodka, beer and other drinks”, “cognac / whiskey / liquor, beer and other drinks”, “wine and beer”. The main differences between these four types and the types of alcohol consumption that characterize drinking habits of the Russian adults are that all four types include beer and most of them comprise two or more kinds of drinks. In addition, we consider the relationship between the consumption patterns of children and their parents. Parents drink alcohol in most families with children aged 14–22. However, the likelihood of children drinking depends on the amount of alcohol consumed by their parents rather than the mere fact of parental alcohol consumption. If parents are prone to excessive alcohol use their children are more likely to drink. Alcohol use in teenagers aged 14–17 is heavily influenced by the excessive alcohol consumption of their mothers, while the excessive alcohol use of the fathers doesn’t have the same effect. Parents’ absence from the household also negatively affected the level of alcohol consumption of their children. Father’s absence in combination with mother’s excessive alcohol use markedly increases the likelihood of young people drinking alcohol.