Indicators of Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Composite Risk Factor Approach

Abstract

A self-reported alcohol inventory measured prevalence and frequency of lifetime, recent, and current alcohol use by an opportunity sample of 3226 young people aged 11–18 in Welsh secondary schools in 2005 comparing findings to extant U.K. and European levels. A risk factor-based questionnaire enabled comprehensive, sensitive sample profiling by gender and age, combining factor analysis with logistic regression to identify composite risk factors influential upon alcohol use by young people in Wales and salient to policy makers and practitioners, notably the endogenous factors: anti-social behaviour/attitudes, inadequate relationships/activities in school, negative experiences in school, lack of commitment to school, and impulsivity. Overlap with composite risk factors for youth offending was identified, but not with drug use, suggesting that the commonly cited “gateway” relationship between elements of “substance use” requires further examination. The study's limitations and implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• alcohol
• young people
• adolescent
• composite risk factors
• offending drug use
• interactive computer-based self-interviewing

Notes

1. “Extending Entitlement” is the Welsh Assembly Government's flagship social inclusion strategy for young people aged 11–25 years (National Assembly Policy Unit, 2002). The strategy establishes 10 universal entitlements for all young people in Wales and establishes a framework in which all local authorities in Wales to work in partnership with other agencies to provide services, support, opportunities, choice, information, and advice to young people aged 11–25. The full report is available at: http://www.learning.wales.gov.uk/pdfs/extending-entitlement-making-real-e.pdf. The content of this article remains the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the policy, strategy, or views of the Welsh Assembly Government.

2. For a more detailed discussion of the questionnaire and the relationship between risk and protective factors and levels of access to entitlements, see the full report (Haines et al 2004). The nature of the relationship between self-reporting of risk and protective factors and youth drug use is explored in more depth in separate articles by the authors (e.g., Case and Haines, 2003).

3. Availability of drugs, hanging around the streets, inability to defer gratification, lack of recreational facilities, dangerous behavior, poor relationship with parents, unclear parental rule setting, anti-social peers, lack of parental consultation, lack of consultation in school, lack of parental communication, academic underachievement, victim of bullying, lack of positive activities, inconsistent school discipline, anti-social behavior, impulsivity.

4. Although the author did, in the planning stages, consider it likely that findings would actually be used for needed intervention planning, implementation, and assessment, there was possibly insufficient focus upon the systematic-organisational-political conditions that foster, hamper, or are irrelevant to the use of such findings.