Decreases in adolescent weekly alcohol use in Europe and North America: Evidence from 28 countries from 2002 to 2010
Publication year
2015Author(s)
Number of pages
4 p.
Source
European Journal of Public Health, 25, 2, (2015), pp. 69-72ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

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Organization
SW OZ BSI OGG
Journal title
European Journal of Public Health
Volume
vol. 25
Issue
iss. 2
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 69
Page end
p. 72
Subject
Developmental PsychopathologyAbstract
Background: This study examined trends in adolescent weekly alcohol use between 2002 and 2010 in 28 European and North American countries. Methods: Analyses were based on data from 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Results: Weekly alcohol use declined in 20 of 28 countries and in all geographic regions, from 12.1 to 6.1% in Anglo-Saxon countries, 11.4 to 7.8% in Western Europe, 9.3 to 4.1% in Northern Europe and 16.3 to 9.9% in Southern Europe. Even in Eastern Europe, where a stable trend was observed between 2002 and 2006, weekly alcohol use declined between 2006 and 2010 from 12.3 to 10.1%. The decline was evident in all gender and age subgroups. Conclusions: These consistent trends may be attributable to increased awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol for adolescent development and the implementation of associated prevention efforts, or changes in social norms and conditions. Although the declining trend was remarkably similar across countries, prevalence rates still differed considerably across countries.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [204859]
- Electronic publications [103204]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [27346]
- Open Access publications [71761]
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