Alcohol consumption among Chilean adolescents: Examining individual, peer, parenting and environmental factors

Abstract

Aims This study examined whether adolescents from Santiago, Chile who had never drunk alcohol differed from those who had drunk alcohol but who had never experienced an alcohol-related problem, as well as from those who had drunk and who had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem on a number of variables from four domains - individual, peers, parenting, and environmental. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Community based sample. Participants 909 adolescents from Santiago, Chile. Measurements Data were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression to compare adolescents who had never drunk alcohol (non-drinkers) with i) those that had drunk but who had experienced no alcohol-related problems (non-problematic drinkers) and ii) those who had drunk alcohol and had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem (problematic drinkers). The analyses included individual, peer, parenting, and environmental factors while controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Findings Compared to non-drinkers, both non-problematic and problematic drinkers were older, reported having more friends who drank alcohol, greater exposure to alcohol ads, lower levels of parental monitoring, and more risk-taking behaviors. In addition, problematic drinkers placed less importance on religious faith to make daily life decisions and had higher perceptions of neighborhood crime than non-drinkers. Conclusions Prevention programs aimed at decreasing problematic drinking could benefit from drawing upon adolescents’ spiritual sources of strength, reinforcing parental tools to monitor their adolescents, and improving environmental and neighborhood conditions.

Factors influencing psychoactive substance use among adolescents in public secondary schools in Uganda

“…Peers, for example, were reported to influence adolescents' drinking behaviors over and above individual characteristics (Sanhueza et al, 2013). Related studies (e.g., Fleary et al, 2013) also established that PASU among adolescents is related to peer-influence.…”

“…However, research on neighborhood influences suggests that some ecological factors exert significant influences on adolescent substance use, and that social contact among neighbors may be one of the primary mechanisms through which transmission of substance use among students operates (Barnes et al, 2013). Furthermore, exposure opportunities such as high alcohol outlet density or availability of psychoactive substances have been cited as contributing factors to PASU among adolescents (Sanhueza et al, 2013).…”

“…Previous and recent decades have seen both scientific sources and popular press in developed and developing countries devoting priority to PASU among youth (Botvin & Griffin, 2007;Cronk & Sarvela, 1997). Studies exploring PASU among adolescents consistently report on a variety of both intrapersonal and interpersonal negatively and positively reinforcing factors of substance use (Barnes, Welte, Tidwell, & Hoffman, 2013;Dolcini et al, 2013;Pengpid & Peltzer, 2013;Reddy, Resnicow, Omardien, & Kambaran, 2007;Sanhueza, Delva, Bares, & Grogan-Kaylor, 2013). It has been reported that prevalence and availability of psychoactive substances catalyzes their use among adolescents (Marks et al, 2005;Warren, Smalley, & Barefoot, 2015).…”

Consumo de tabaco y alcohol en adolescentes de 10 a 14 años de la ciudad de San Felipe, Chile: prevalencia y factores asociados

“…Entre estos están: pobre comunicación padres-hijos 51 , disfunción familiar 41,52,53 y pobre monitoreo parental 28,43,54 . Nuestro estudio confirma estos hallazgos.…”

“…Varios factores han sido identificados a nivel internacional 22,23 , pero se hace necesario el estudio de ellos a nivel local para poder elaborar estrategias preventivas específicas, incorporando las necesidades de esa comunidad 22,24 . Pocos estudios en Chile han explorado el consumo de tabaco y alcohol en adolescentes de entre 10 y 14 años [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] , especialmente en el grupo de 10 a 13 años y sus factores asociados 32 . Los objetivos de esta investigación son determinar la prevalencia de vida del consumo de tabaco y alcohol en adolescentes entre 10 y 14 años, y estudiar su asociación con factores personales, familiares y escolares, usando como variables confundentes sexo, edad y nivel socioeconómico.…”