What harms do young Australians experience in alcohol-use situations?

OBJECTIVE

An insight into the alcohol-related experiences of young students in Perth, Western Australia, with particular emphasis to alcohol-related harm.

METHOD

The sample of 2,329 students (female: n = 1,089, male: n = 1,240) is a school-based group selected using cluster sampling, with stratification by socio-economic area and represents 11 to 12 year olds' experiences with alcohol and alcohol-related harm. The SHAHRP survey instrument was developed and pre-tested to measure students' knowledge, attitudes, patterns and context of use, harms associated with the students' own alcohol consumption and harms associated with other people's use of alcohol and incorporates the students' perceptions of alcohol-related harm.

RESULTS

Nearly two-thirds of all young people consumed alcohol under adult supervision; nearly 40% of all young males and 34% of all young females drink alcohol in unsupervised situations; and a fifth of young males consumed alcohol alone. Young males start drinking younger and consumed alcohol more regularly than young females, and consumed more alcohol per occasion. In the past 12 months, young males experienced more than five and young females more than three alcohol-related harms associated with their own alcohol consumption. They experienced a similar number of harms associated with other people's use of alcohol. Unsupervised drinkers were nearly seven times more likely to experience alcohol-related harm than supervised drinkers and nearly 13 times more likely to experience alcohol-related harm than non-drinkers.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The results can help inform the development of alcohol education programs for young people.