Citation

Gonçalves IA, Carvalho AAS. Open Med (Wars) 2017; 12: 494-500.

Affiliation

University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro/Nursing School, Vila Real, Vila RealPortugal.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Walter de Gruyter)

DOI

10.1515/med-2017-0068

PMID

29520373

PMCID

PMC5836530

Abstract

Alcohol is the most used psychoactive substance among adolescents, is an important public health problem and a major risk factor for the health of this group. This study is regarding to the pattern of alcohol consumption by adolescents. Descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study, with a sample of 378 adolescents, which are attending three high schools, in north-eastern Portugal. In the data collection we used a questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS. The prevalence of alcohol is 86.8%. The mean score of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was 3.53±4.525 points. The vast majority of participants were located in the non-excessive alcohol consumption area (91.3%). The pattern of alcohol consumption differs significantly between gender (Wald: p ≤ 0,004) and the religious practice (Wald: p ≤ 0,027), with greater percentage of boys and students who did not practice any religion in excessive consumers. The prevalence of alcohol consumers is high. The proportion of young people with excessive consumption in our sample is lower than in other studies, but shows that there is a group of adolescents in excessive consumption. It found a relationship between consumption pattern, gender and religious practice. These results justify the development of public health interventions.

Language: en

Keywords

AUDIT test; Adolescents; Alcohol drinking; Public health