Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on September 12, 2005
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2005 40(6):569-574; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agh212
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SCHOOL MATTERS: DRINKING DIMENSIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ALCOHOL-RELATED PROBLEMS AMONG ONTARIO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
1 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada, 2 Addiction Research Institute, Zurich, Switzerland, 3 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada and 4 School of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: 33 Russell Street, Room 2035B, Toronto, ON M5S 2S1, Canada. Tel.: +1 416 535 8501 (ext. 4495); Fax: +1 416 260 4156; E-mail: jtrehm{at}aol.com
(Received 20 May 2005; first review notified 13 July 2005; accepted in final revised form 17 August 2005)
Aims: To test the hypotheses that average volume of alcohol consumption and patterns of drinking, each influence alcohol-related problems and that both act at individual and aggregate levels. Methods: The 2003 cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey obtained self-administered questionnaires from a representative classroom-based survey of 2455 Ontario secondary school students (grades 9–12) from 74 schools, with a student completion rate of 72%. Average volume of alcohol consumption was assessed using a quantity-frequency measure. Heavy drinking occasions were operationalized by four dummy variables indicating less than monthly, monthly, weekly and daily consumption of five or more drinks per occasion, with never having a heavy drinking occasion serving as the reference group. Alcohol-related problems were measured by using seven items of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Results: As hypothesized, both the average volume of alcohol consumption and patterns of drinking influenced alcohol-related problems at the student level, independently of each other. At the school level, both determinants significantly influenced the problems, but not when simultaneously entered into the equation. Conclusions: Future prevention of alcohol-related problems in adolescents should consider both the average volume and patterns of drinking. Both prevention and research should also try to include environmental determination of alcohol-related problems.