Citation

Wang SH, Lin IC, Chen CY, Chen DR, Chan TC, Chen WJ. Addiction 2013; 108(12): 2081-2088.

Affiliation

Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/add.12278

PMID

23773461

Abstract

AIM: To examine the association between alcohol in school environments and adolescent alcohol use over the previous 6 months. DESIGNS: A multilevel logistic regression analysis of cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2004, 2005, and 2006 was performed. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: A total of 52,214 students aged 11 to 19 years from 387 middle or high schools were selected from a nationally representative, multistage, stratified probability sampling across Taiwan. MEASUREMENTS: Information on sociodemographic features and substance use experiences was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The alcohol in the environment was measured using the availability of convenience stores surrounding the schools. Using geographical information systems, the weighted numbers of convenience stores within 1 km, a 12-15 min walk, of a school were calculated. The schools were later categorized into three subgroups via the tertile of nearby convenience stores. FINDINGS: Considering the compositional characteristics, the availability of convenience stores was found to account for 1.5% of the school-level variance of youthful drinking. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of alcohol use over the previous 6 months among youth attending schools with medium and high availability were 1.04 (0.96-1.13) and 1.08 (1.00-1.17), respectively, with a p-value of 0.04 in the trend test. CONCLUSION: The greater availability of convenience stores near a school is associated with an increased risk of alcohol use among adolescents over the previous 6 months.

Language: en