Community violence and alcohol abuse among adolescents: a sex comparison

Abstract

ResumoObjetivo: Verificar a existência de associação entre vitimização e uso de álcool entre meninos e meninas de Porto Alegre (RS).Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo transversal. Participaram estudantes de escolas públicas com idade entre 10 e 19 anos, da 5ª série do ensino fundamental até a 3ª série do ensino médio, compondo amostra por conglomerados em dois estágios, definidas pelas características socioeconômicas do bairro da escola e pela turma. A coleta de dados foi realizada por questionário padronizado de forma anônima e voluntária.Resultados: O álcool foi utilizado por 54% dos meninos adolescentes (14-19) e 17% dos adolescentes (10-13), por 58% das meninas adolescentes mais velhas e 19% das adolescentes mais novas. Cinqüenta e sete por cento dos estudantes sofreram vitimização severa, e 53% sofreram vitimização moderada. Quando as amostras separadas por sexos foram avaliadas, observou-se que meninos e meninas que faziam uso de álcool relataram 2,6 e 1,8, respectivamente, mais vitimização grave, ao passo que o uso de álcool entre meninos e meninas se associou a 3,1 e 2,5 mais prevalência de vitimização moderada, respectivamente. Para os episódios de embriaguez, observou-se que adolescentes se embriagaram mais que pré-adolescentes e que as exposições à violência mostraram associação aumentada para embriaguez. Um percentual de 32% de meninos (razão de prevalência, RP = 4,4; IC95% 2,6-7,3) e 22% de meninas (RP = 2,2; IC95% 1,2-4,1) vítimas de violência severa relatou embriaguez pelo menos uma vez. Conclusões:Adolescentes de ambos os sexos que consomem mais bebidas alcoólicas têm maior risco de sofrerem violência comunitária.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2008;84(3):244-250: Violência comunitária, álcool, adolescentes. AbstractObjective: To verify whether there is an association between victimization and alcohol use among boys and girls in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of students from public schools, aged 10 to 19 years, from the fifth grade of primary education to the third grade of secondary education, selected by two-stage cluster sampling, defined by the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhood in which each school is located and by school class. Data collection was by means of a questionnaire which was completed anonymously and voluntarily.Results: Fifty-four percent of the older adolescent boys (aged 14-19) drank alcohol, compared to 17% of the younger adolescent boys (10-13), as did 58% of the older adolescent girls and 19% of the younger adolescent girls. Fifty-seven percent of the students had suffered severe victimization, and 53% had suffered moderate victimization. When the samples were separated by sex, it was observed that boys and girls who drank alcohol reported 2.6 and 1.8 times more severe victimization respectively, while alcohol was associated with 3.1 and 2.5 times greater prevalence of moderate victimization, among boys and girls respectively. When episodes of drunkenness were analyzed, it was observed that adolescents got drunk more than pre-adolescents...

Alcohol consumption among adolescents in Kraljevo, Serbia

“…It is known that addictive behavior among adults usually has its roots in abuse of both alcohol and tobacco during adolescence [9,18,20,21,24,41]. Additionally, smoking and drinking seem to increase the odds of the development of abuse of other substances, regardless of gender or age [17,27,29,38,40,49,61,62]. In our study, we observed a higher frequency and intensity of alcohol use among smokers, which corresponds well with previously published results.…”

“…In our study, two thirds of the Serbian adolescents reported a first drinking occasion before completing high school, while the other third had the same experience while attending elementary school. Despite these obvious inter-country variations in behavior, nearly all adolescents worldwide have already consumed alcohol by the time they reach 18 years of age [3,17,18,[24][25][26][27][28]. Furthermore, more than half of our study subjects reported being intoxicated at least once, supporting the results of previous surveys [3,10,16,29].…”

“…Likewise, a number of previous studies investigating Australian [24], Croatian [2], English [35], Spanish [30] and Swiss [3] school populations aged between 10 and 19 years clearly identified male gender as a predictor of higher alcohol consumption. However, other researchers investigating groups of Hispanic [14], Spanish [1,23], Finnish [38], and Brazilian [27] adolescents, as well as other European [21] and American [28] adolescents, failed to find a consistent, or even any, effect of gender on drinking behavior [17,22]. It has been suggested that gender-specific patterns of drinking are age-dependent, which could explain the observed discrepancy if a difference in alcohol intake between boys and girls does not occur until late adolescence [1,22,23,28,39,40].…”

Prevalence of physical inactivity and associated factors among high school students from state’s public schools

“…A prevalência do uso de tabaco e bebidas alcoólicas em adolescentes de São Paulo foi maior do que os dados encontrados em outros estudos nacionais, como por exemplo, em jovens de Florianópolis (SC) 23 e Porto Alegre (RS) 24 . Portanto, programas de intervenção são necessários no sentido de estimular a prática de atividade física diária e, também, com o objetivo de diminuir o uso de tabaco e bebidas alcoólicas em adolescentes do ensino médio de São Paulo.…”

Prevalência de inatividade física e fatores associados em estudantes do ensino médio de escolas públicas estaduais

“…24 Therefore, intervention programs are necessary to stimulate the daily practice of physical activities, as well as to reduce smoking and alcohol intake among high school students from São Paulo.…”