Author(s)

Marta Reis^1,2,3*, Gina Tomé^1,2,4, Lúcia Ramiro^1,2, Fábio Botelho Guedes^1,2, Margarida Gaspar de Matos^1,2

¹Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (Equipa Aventura Social), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
²Instituto de Saúde Ambiental, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
³Bolseira Pós-Doutoramento FCT SFRH/BPD/110905/2015, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴Bolseira Pós Doutoramento FCT SFRH/BPD/108637/2015, Lisboa, Portugal.

Alcohol consumption is considered one of the factors with the greatest impact on health. In turn, the use/abuse of alcohol also presents itself as one of the main factors responsible for the involvement in sexual risk behaviours by young people. Therefore, understanding the main reasons that lead young people to consume alcohol is essential to invest in promoting their health and preventing sexual risk behaviours. This paper aims to study the validation of the Portuguese version of the DMQ-R SF in young people aged between 18 and 24 years old and to understand whether the reasons for drinking alcohol are associated with sexual risk behaviours and characteristics of groups of young people. The study includes 1166 young people, with an average age of 21.1 years (SD = 1.92), 72.3% being female. Most participants reported having drunk alcohol in the last 12 months (78.4%) and having had sexual intercourse (89.6%). More than one third of the participants reported having had sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol or other drugs (39.2%) and 23.5% reported having occasional sexual partners. The reasons for drinking alcohol can be broken down into four types, namely personal satisfaction (enjoyment), social reasons (socialization), social integration (peer pressure), and reasons for dealing with uneasy situations or to overcome difficulties and relieve feelings that generate unease (coping). Regarding sexual behaviours, a significant relationship was found between the reasons for drinking alcohol and the two previously mentioned sexual risk behaviours, suggesting the need for the development of public policies aimed at education and health promotion of young people, including the implementation of educational practices in the academic environment, in the community and in health units.

Alcohol Consumption, Reasons for Drinking Alcohol, Sexual Behaviours, Youth, Health Promotion

Reis, M. , Tomé, G. , Ramiro, L. , Guedes, F. and Matos, M. (2021) Reasons for Drinking Alcohol and Their Relation to Sexual Behaviours among Young Portuguese People. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9, 12-28. doi: 10.4236/jss.2021.98002.