Problem Drinking, Alcohol-Related Violence, and Homelessness among Youth Living in the Slums of Kampala, Uganda

Monica H. Swahn, Rachel Culbreth, Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye, Volkan Topalli, Eric Wright and Rogers Kasirye
Additional contact information
Monica H. Swahn: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3984 Atlanta, GA 30302-3984, USA
Rachel Culbreth: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3984 Atlanta, GA 30302-3984, USA
Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala 00256, Uganda
Volkan Topalli: Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3992, Atlanta, GA 30302-3992, USA
Eric Wright: Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Science, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 5020, Atlanta, GA 30302-5020, USA
Rogers Kasirye: Uganda Youth Developmental Link, P.O. Box 12659, Kampala 00256, Uganda

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: This paper examines problem drinking, alcohol-related violence, and homelessness among youth living in the slums of Kampala—an understudied population at high-risk for both alcohol use and violence. This study is based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2014 with youth living in the slums and streets of Kampala, Uganda ( n = 1134), who were attending Uganda Youth Development Link drop-in centers. The analyses for this paper were restricted to youth who reported current alcohol consumption ( n = 346). Problem drinking patterns were assessed among youth involved in alcohol-related violence. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine the impact of homelessness on alcohol-related violence through different measures of problem drinking. Nearly 46% of youth who consumed alcohol were involved in alcohol-related violence. Problem drinkers were more likely to report getting in an accident (χ 2 = 6.8, df = 1, p = 0.009), having serious problems with parents (χ 2 = 21.1, df = 1, p < 0.0001) and friends (χ 2 = 18.2, df = 1, p < 0.0001), being a victim of robbery (χ 2 = 8.8, df = 1, p = 0.003), and going to a hospital (χ 2 = 15.6, df = 1, p < 0.0001). For the mediation analyses, statistically significant models were observed for frequent drinking, heavy drinking, and drunkenness. Interventions should focus on delaying and reducing alcohol use in this high-risk population.

Keywords: homelessness; alcohol use; youth violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1061/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1061/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:6:p:1061-:d:148668

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().