Heavy alcohol use and psychiatric deviance among 15-year-olds

Abstract

This epidemiological study assessed the heavy use of alcohol, psychiatric symptoms and psychiatric deviance, and their relationship to gender, family structure and family socioeconomic situation of 15-year-olds. Questionnaires designed to reveal psychiatric symptoms and deviance were completed by parents, teachers and the adolescents. Information concerning alcohol use was obtained from the adolescents themselves. Most (78.0%) adolescents had drunk alcoholic beverages during the last 12 months but 62.7% had not drunk to the point of intoxication during the previous month. Eight percent of the adolescents had drunk to intoxication three times or more during the previous month, and these constituted the group of heavy users. Most of the heavy users were girls. Heavy users of alcohol showed more psychiatric symptoms, and more than half (52.5%) were classified as deviant according to at least one of the scales used. The probability of being a heavy user of alcohol was 3.6-fold if the adolescent was depressive. Furthermore, hyperactivity at home (3.6-fold) and externalizing behaviour at school (3.9-fold) increased the probability of being a heavy user of alcohol. Family socioeconomic situation (SES) and family structure had no impact on the consumption of alcohol.