Alcohol use in adolescents and its association with sensation seeking and impulsivity: A survey in the city of Sfax, Tunisia

Abstract

Although the increase of media interest for psychoactive substances use, especially alcohol, among young people, since the revolution, Tunisia has few epidemiological studies on this subject, which does not allow having a clear idea of the importance of the problem and its different determinants. To assess the prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents in the region of Sfax (Tunisia) and to determine its relations to the two personality dimensions: sensation seeking and impulsivity. This was a cross-sectional study involving 317 middle and high school students in Sfax (Tunisia). We used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess risky alcohol-consumption, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale(BIS-11) to assess the degree of impulsivity and the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS-V) to assess the level of sensation seeking. The average age of students was 15.79±1.5 years with a sex-ratio of 1.07. The prevalence of experimenters (who had drunk alcohol at least once in their lifetime) was 19.6% while that of current consumers (who had drunk alcohol more than one time during the past 12 months before the survey) was 8.8%. Among those who reported alcohol use during the last year, 42.8% were alcohol-dependent, according to the AUDIT. The analysis of personality dimensions showed a significant association between current alcohol consumption and sensation seeking (P<0.001) in particular on the dimensions of disinhibition (DIS), experience seeking (ES) and boredom susceptibility (BS) (P respectively: <0.001; 0.002 and 0.001). Total impulsivity and motor and attention impulsivity were associated with current alcohol consumption (respective P: 0.001, 0.005 and 0.015). Our study of schooled Tunisian adolescents shows that sensation seeking and impulsivity are associated with the development of alcohol use. Such a behavior is worrisome because it appears to be quite frequent and often problematic.