Author(s)

Hideyuki Kanda, Yoneatsu Osaki, Yoshitaka Kaneita, Osamu Itani, Maki Ikeda, Takashi Ohida, Susumu Higuchi

Department of Environmental and Preventive Health, School of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, Ohita University, Ohita, Japan.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan.
Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan.
Kurihama Mecical Center, Yokosuka, Japan.

Early drinking is considered to result in making tolerant of alcohol consumption and a higher prevalence of alcohol related disorders in the later. We focused generational impacts on drinking rate among high school students based on multiple nationwide data. The surveys were nationwide, cross-sectional random sampling surveys given every 4 years from the Japanese Youth Tobacco and Alcohol Surveys, 1996 to 2008. Participants were male 53,925 high school students from 7th grade to 11th grade. We divided to the three follow-up groups every 4 years from 1996 to 2004 for male junior high school students in 7th grades and the end periods were 4 years later in 11th grades. Outcome measures in this study were life time drinking, current drinking within 30 days and weekly drinking. All drinking rates decreased each at 7th and at 11th grade. The increments in these drinking rates from 7th grade to 11th grade in males decreased gradually in recent follow-up groups. Generational impacts should be considered by using follow-up groups to study drinking behaviors among students.

Drinking Rates; Repeated Cross-Sectional Study; National Wide Survey; Japan

Kanda, H. , Osaki, Y. , Kaneita, Y. , Itani, O. , Ikeda, M. , Ohida, T. and Higuchi, S. (2013) Alcohol drinking rates of male between 7th and 11th graders in Japan decreased gradually based on nationwide repeated cross-sectional surveys from 1996 to 2008. Health, 5, 12-17. doi: 10.4236/health.2013.56A3003.