Are mental health and binge drinking associated in Dutch adolescents? Cross-sectional public health study

Abstract

BackgroundDepression and anxiety disorders have a high disease burden and as many as 15% of young people report mental health problems. Binge drinking, which is a particularly harmful way of consuming alcohol, is common among secondary school students. The aim of this study was to examine the association between binge drinking and self-reported mental health in boys and girls aged 12 to 18 years.FindingsThis cross-sectional analysis was performed on data collected by the Community Health Service (GGD) Brabant Zuidoost, the Netherlands, in 2007. In this Youth Survey, 10 090 randomly selected adolescents aged 12 tot 18 years were each sent a letter, a questionnaire, and a user name and log-in code for if they preferred to complete the Internet version of the questionnaire. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5), a short 5-item questionnaire to detect feelings of depression and anxiety. Participants were asked about current alcohol consumption, their relationship with their parents, drug use, and sociodemographic data.Corrected for confounders, binge drinking and mental health problems were associated in the 12 to 15 year old girls (OR 2.43; 95% CI 1.86-3.17, p = 0.000) and boys (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.19-2.27, p = 0.003). The majority of the 16 to 18 year old adolescents had been binge drinking in the previous 4 weeks (69.6% boys and 56.8% girls). In this age group, boys with mental health problems were less likely to be classified as binge drinkers than were boys without mental health problems (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.45-0.87, p = 0.005). No such association between binge drinking and mental health was found in girls of this age.ConclusionGirls and boys aged 12-15 years were classified as binge drinkers significantly more often when they reported poor mental health. Because binge drinking damages the brain, especially at a young age, it is important that health professionals are alert to possible binge drinking when young adolescents report mental health problems and should ask their patients about their drinking behaviour. Likewise, if youngsters under 16 present with binge drinking, they should be asked whether they are anxious or depressed.

Psycho-behavioral vulnerability of adolescent binge drinkers

“…In this sense, binge drinking by individuals who are anxious and/or tend to become depressed could also be interpreted as a means of self-medication. Recent studies bear witness to higher levels of psychological morbidity among binge drinkers, who more frequently report typical symptoms of mental discomfort, stress and emotional problems, particularly anxiety, neurosis, depression (12,13). Hence the present study on the relationship between binge drinking in adolescence and psychopathological vulnerability, which aims at verifying, relationship between quantity of alcohol and psycho-behavioral problems: we expect that binge drinkers have more internalizing and externalizing disorders than nondrinkers or moderate drinkers.…”

At-Risk and Problem Gambling among Finnish Youth: The Examination of Risky Alcohol Consumption, Tobacco Smoking, Mental Health and Loneliness as Gender-Specific Correlates

“…The sum score (range 5-30) was linearly transformed to vary from 0 to 100. A cut-off score of 60 was used to clasUnauthenticated Download Date | 12/16/16 1:18 PM sify moderate to poor mental health (e.g., Theunissen, Jansen, & van Gestel, 2011). A cut-off score of 60 produces the smallest error rate, as defined by yielding the highest sensitivity and specificity rates (Kelly, Dunstan, Lloyd, & Fone, 2008).…”

Behavioral Risk Factors and Mental Health

“…26 The relation between smoking and psychological distress is also consistent with what has been reported in literature. 11 Strandheim et al 30 observed an association in Norwegian adolescents between the number of alcohol intoxications and behavioral and attention problems, but the relation was not adjusted for other covariates. In our study, the relation between the 2 variables was stronger in younger adolescents, which suggests greater vulnerability in early adolescence when depressive symptoms increase rapidly.…”

“…3 Various factors have been related to mental health problems in adolescence. 7 However, the role of physical exercise, 8,9 alcohol consumption, 10,11 and body weight remains uncertain. 7 However, the role of physical exercise, 8,9 alcohol consumption, 10,11 and body weight remains uncertain.…”