Abstract
Alcohol is a common drug misused by young people worldwide. Previous studies have found that attitudes towards heavy consumption are stronger predictors than general norms concerning alcohol. This study aims to explore adolescents’ alcohol use and drunkenness, to understand adolescents’ attitudes towards alcohol use, drunkenness and prevention approaches, and to explore associations between attitudes and personal alcohol use and demographics. Methods: Cross-sectional face-to-face survey of 410 adolescents (61.2% women) who were socializing at night in the streets of Palma (Spain). Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC), self-reported measures of alcohol use and social variables were assessed. Results: 70.7% of respondents had a BrAC score higher than 0. The full sample reported having a mean of 3.9 drunk episodes in the last month, and a mean of 7.34 in Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). A total of 30.7% were under the minimum age limit for alcohol drinking in Spain and males showed higher BrAC than females. Bivariate analyses identified some differences in attitudes across participant demographics and personal alcohol use. In conclusion, we found high levels of alcohol use and drunkenness amongst adolescents, and adolescents’ attitudes towards drunkenness and prevention approaches were associated with their alcohol consumption as well as with age.
Highlights
Alcohol is one of the most common drugs misused by young people [1]
The full sample reported having a mean of 3.8 drunk episodes in the last month, and a mean Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score of 7.3 (44.2% AUDIT risk)
There was no significant difference by gender in proportion of adolescents with Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) > 0 (χ2 = 0.014; df = 1; p = 0.905), risky AUDIT (χ2 = 0.490; df = 1; p = 0.484), minutes in the public setting (t = 0.436; df = 373; p = 0.663), number of alcoholic drinks (t = 0.059; df = 382; p = 0.953), drunk episodes in the last month (t = 0.734; df = 377; p = 0.463) or AUDIT score (t = 0.219; df = 240; p = 0.827)
Summary
Whilst young people may drink less frequently than adults, they tend to do so in larger quantities over a shorter period of time, often referred to as binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking [2]. This type of heavy drinking has been shown to peak in late teenage years and early adulthood [3] and is of particular public health concern. Harmful use of alcohol is one of the key risk factors for the development of mental health conditions [4] like Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD), one of the most prevalent mental disorders.
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