Adolescents’ Alcohol Use in Botellon and Attitudes towards Alcohol Use and Prevention Policies

Elena Gervilla, Zara Quigg, Mariàngels Duch, Montse Juan and Clarisse Guimarães
Additional contact information
Elena Gervilla: Balearic Islands Health Research Institute, Carretera de Valldemossa, 79, 07120 Palma, Spain
Zara Quigg: Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Exchange Station, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool L2 2QP, UK
Mariàngels Duch: European Institute of Studies on Prevention, Rambla, 15 2º-3ª, 07003 Palma, Spain
Montse Juan: European Institute of Studies on Prevention, Rambla, 15 2º-3ª, 07003 Palma, Spain
Clarisse Guimarães: Department of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands, Carretera de Valldemossa, km 7.5, 07122 Palma, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Alcohol is a common drug misused by young people worldwide. Previous studies have found that attitudes towards heavy consumption are stronger predictors than general norms concerning alcohol. This study aims to explore adolescents’ alcohol use and drunkenness, to understand adolescents’ attitudes towards alcohol use, drunkenness and prevention approaches, and to explore associations between attitudes and personal alcohol use and demographics. Methods: Cross-sectional face-to-face survey of 410 adolescents (61.2% women) who were socializing at night in the streets of Palma (Spain). Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC), self-reported measures of alcohol use and social variables were assessed. Results: 70.7% of respondents had a BrAC score higher than 0. The full sample reported having a mean of 3.9 drunk episodes in the last month, and a mean of 7.34 in Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). A total of 30.7% were under the minimum age limit for alcohol drinking in Spain and males showed higher BrAC than females. Bivariate analyses identified some differences in attitudes across participant demographics and personal alcohol use. In conclusion, we found high levels of alcohol use and drunkenness amongst adolescents, and adolescents’ attitudes towards drunkenness and prevention approaches were associated with their alcohol consumption as well as with age.

Keywords: alcohol; adolescent; breath alcohol concentration; drunkenness; attitudes; intoxication; prevention policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/3885/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/3885/ (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:17:y:2020:i:11:p:3885-:d:365192

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 ().