TITLE:
Alcohol Drinking Habits and Negative Experiences among Adolescents in Greece
AUTHORS:
Konstantinos Tsoumakas, Marsela Tanaka, Konstantinos Petsios, Georgios Fildisis, Athanasios Gkoutzivelakis, Ioanna Pavlopoulou
KEYWORDS:
Adolescents, Alcohol, Epidemiology, Characteristics, Consequences
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.4 No.3,
September
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Alcohol use
during adolescence remains a prominent public health problem with short- and
long-term consequences. The study aims at investigating the epidemiological
characteristics of alcohol use among Greek adolescents. Important parallel aims
were to identify alcohol-related problems and its consequences experienced by
the adolescence. Methods: The study population was a convenience sample of 1100
students of secondary education (junior and senior high school) from 12 public
and private schools in Athens. 573 boys and 527 girls aged 12 to 19 years old
[mean age 15.3 (±1.7)] answered a specially structured anonymous questionnaire.
Results: Recent alcohol consumption was reported by more than the half of
students (57.3%) and was more prevalent among adolescents over 15 years old
(67.3%) and among boys (59.3%). Beer was the most popular type of alcoholic
beverage (65.9%) at all ages. On average, both males and females stated the
onset of alcohol at the age of 12 years. Boys reported being drunk more often
than girls (25.7% versus 14.9%). However, more girls reported being drunk at
least once a year than boys (27.1% versus 17.6%). The vast majority of the
participants stated that they were informed about the possible addiction to
alcohol (86.2%) and its negative consequences. A statistically significant
correlation was found between age and hangover (p