Drinking practices and other health-related behaviors among adolescents of São Paulo City, Brazil.

PURPOSE

(a) detect possible demographic and behavioral differences among young episodic heavy drinkers and other young drinkers; (b) investigate the association of youth drinking patterns with other health-compromising behaviors.

METHODS

The data presented are part of a health behavior survey, which used a modified version of the Youth Health Risk Behavior Survey (YHRBS) questionnaire. Students from public (n = 993) and private schools (n = 815), from 7th to 11th grades were investigated in São Paulo city. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to investigate the association among different drinking practices and the various health-compromising behaviors, controlling for age group, gender, and school system. Odds Ratios (OR) and their 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were calculated. Episodic Heavy Drinking was defined as having five or more drinks in a 2-hour interval, at least once in the last 30 days.

RESULTS

Episodic Heavy Drinkers (EHDs) tend to be older and males and prefer to drink with friends at commercial facilities instead of drinking with their relatives at home. EHDs also reported higher percentages of adverse consequences, such as physical fights, accidents, and school absenteism after drinking. EHDs are more likely to engage in other high-risk behaviors. In the public schools, they were more likely to carry guns (OR = 17.0; CI = 3.9-74.8), get involved in physical fights (OR = 8.9; CI = 4.4-18.0), attempt suicide (OR = 4.2; CI = 2.0-8.7), and use inhalants (OR = 2.7; CI = 1.3-5.7) than abstainers. They are also more likely to use marijuana (OR = 4.7; CI = 2.2-9.9) and smoke cigarettes (OR = 5.3; CI = 2.7-10.4) than moderate drinkers. The results were similar for private schools, with even higher ratios of inhalant use (OR = 15.2; CI = 6.2-37.1), when EHDs were compared with abstainers and cigarette (OR = 64.5; CI = 8.6-481.0) and marijuana use (OR = 6.5; CI = 4.3-9.7), when EHDs were compared with moderate drinkers.

CONCLUSIONS

EHDs display different drinking habits than other adolescents who drink. Also, they are at increased risk for a range of health-compromising behaviors, when compared with both abstainers and moderate drinkers.