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Copyright
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(Copyright © 2018, Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is related to hazardous alcohol use in adults, and the association seems to be stronger for more deviant and harmful drinking behaviors. We examined whether a similar pattern was present among adolescents.
METHOD: Data stem from a Norwegian school survey of 14- to 17-year-olds (n = 12,966; response rate in participating schools: 86%). Parental education (high/ middle vs. low) was our main SES indicator. The outcomes comprised lifetime and past-year drinking and intoxication, and past-year symptoms of excessive drinking. We used Poisson regression to estimate relative risks (RR) and post-estimation Wald F tests to compare coefficient estimates.
RESULTS: Parental education was related inversely to the lifetime measures of drinking and intoxication among all students but the 17-year-olds. The impact on any intoxication episodes was significantly stronger than that on any alcohol use only among the 14-year-olds (RR = 1.79, 95% CI [1.31, 2.43] vs. RR = 1.21, 95% CI [0.98, 1.49]) (p <.001). Among past-year drinkers at all ages (14-17 years; n = 7,796), the differential impact of low parental education was particularly large with respect to the frequency of intoxication (RR = 1.68, 95% CI [1.39, 2.02]) compared with the frequency of drinking (RR = 1.42, 95% CI [1.24, 1.62]) (p <.001) and frequent symptoms of excessive drinking (RR = 1.80, 95% CI [1.47, 2.20]) compared with any symptoms (RR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.01, 1.14]) (p <.001). A similar but somewhat less clear pattern emerged when using an alternative indicator for low parental SES.
CONCLUSIONS: Parents' social standing was inversely related to alcohol use by youth and related more strongly so to more deviant and harmful drinking behaviors.
Language: en |