Abstract
BackgroundExcessive alcohol consumption in underage people is a rising phenomenon. A major proportion of the disease burden and deaths of young people in developed nations is attributable to alcohol abuse. The aim of this study was to investigate social, demographic and environmental factors that may raise the risk of Saturday night drinking and binge drinking among Italian school students.MethodsThe study was conducted on a sample of 845 Italian underage school students, by means of an anonymous, self-test questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to identify independent risk factors for alcohol drinking and binge drinking. Ordered logistic regression was used to identify independent risk factors for harmful drinking patterns.ResultsThe independent variables that confer a higher risk of drinking in underage students are older age classes, male sex, returning home after midnight, belonging to a group with little respect for the rules, or to a group where young people are not seen as leaders. The higher the perception of alcohol consumption by the group, the higher the risk. Spending time in bars or discos coincides with a two-fold or four-fold increase, respectively, in the risk of alcohol consumption.ConclusionOur findings show that certain environmental and social risk factors are associated with underage drinking. The most important role for preventing young people's exposure to these factors lies with the family, because only parents can exert the necessary control and provide a barrier against potentially harmful situations.
Highlights
Despite clear evidence of the major contribution of alcohol to the global burden of disease and the related substantial economic costs, the attention paid to controlling alcohol consumption is still inadequate in most countries
The increasing industrial production and marketing of alcohol is driving a greater use of alcohol by young people too, and there are signs of rising levels of underage drinking [1]
Among our 1213 year-old students, 27.07% of the boys and 23.71% of girls had been drinking on the previous Saturday night: the figures rose to 35.57% of the boys and 32.71% of the girls aged 14-15 years, and to 72.66% of the boys and 46.46% of the girls 16-17 years old (Table 1)
Summary
Despite clear evidence of the major contribution of alcohol to the global burden of disease and the related substantial economic costs, the attention paid to controlling alcohol consumption is still inadequate in most countries. A large proportion of the burden of disease and death among young people in developed nations is attributable to alcohol abuse: more than one in four deaths among males aged 15-29 can be attributed to much of Europe in the last 10 years [7]. Great efforts have been made to raise the awareness of families, schools and peers with a view to containing underage alcohol consumption. A study conducted in a representative sample of more than 14,000 school pupils (aged 7-11) in the UK revealed that poor parental supervision and discipline are associated with a higher probability of alcohol abuse [8]. A major proportion of the disease burden and deaths of young people in developed nations is attributable to alcohol abuse. The aim of this study was to investigate social, demographic and environmental factors that may raise the risk of Saturday night drinking and binge drinking among Italian school students
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