Does the social context of early alcohol use affect risky drinking in adolescents? Prospective cohort study.

Louisa Degenhardt,Carolyn Coffey,George C Patton,Christina O'Loughlin,Helena Romaniuk,Wayne D Hall,John B Carlin,Wendy Swift

doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2443-5

Abstract

BackgroundThere are limited longitudinal data on the associations between different social contexts of alcohol use and risky adolescent drinking.MethodsAustralian prospective longitudinal cohort of 1943 adolescents with 6 assessment waves at ages 14–17 years. Drinkers were asked where and how frequently they drank. Contexts were: at home with family, at home alone, at a party with friends, in a park/car, or at a bar/nightclub. The outcomes were prevalence and incidence of risky drinking (≥5 standard drinks (10g alcohol) on a day, past week) and very risky drinking (>20 standard drinks for males and >11 for females) in early (waves 1–2) and late (waves 3–6) adolescence.ResultsForty-four percent (95 % CI: 41-46 %) reported past-week risky drinking on at least one wave during adolescence (waves 1–6). Drinking at a party was the most common repeated drinking context in early adolescence (28 %, 95 % CI 26-30 %); 15 % reported drinking repeatedly (3+ times) with their family in early adolescence (95 % CI: 14-17 %). For all contexts (including drinking with family), drinking 3+ times in a given context was associated with increased the risk of risky drinking in later adolescence. These effects remained apparent after adjustment for potential confounders (e.g. for drinking with family, adjusted RR 1.9; 95 % CI: 1.5-2.4). Similar patterns were observed for very risky drinking.ConclusionsOur results suggest that consumption with family does not protect against risky drinking. Furthermore, parents who wish to minimise high risk drinking by their adolescent children might also limit their children’s opportunities to consume alcohol in unsupervised settings.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2443-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

There are limited longitudinal data on the associations between different social contexts of alcohol use and risky adolescent drinking
Other studies have found that adolescents who report drinking with parents, compared to those who do not report drinking with their parents, have lower levels of risky drinking [5,6,7,8] but a higher frequency of alcohol consumption [9,10,11,12]
This paper examines predictive associations between the contexts in which alcohol is consumed in early adolescence and risky [16] drinking in later adolescence, in an established Australian longitudinal study of adolescent development: the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study

Summary

Introduction

There are limited longitudinal data on the associations between different social contexts of alcohol use and risky adolescent drinking. There has been particular interest in the possibility that the social and cultural context in which drinking is initiated affects later patterns of alcohol consumption [2]. This idea underpins a strategy of introducing adolescents to alcohol in the family home under parental supervision to encourage less risky patterns of alcohol consumption. Other studies have found that adolescents who report drinking with parents, compared to those who do not report drinking with their parents, have lower levels of risky drinking [5,6,7,8] but a higher frequency of alcohol consumption [9,10,11,12]. The association between drinking with family at home and drinking in each other context in early adolescence was estimated using odds ratios

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Conclusion