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Abstract
Aims: This study examined the relationship between subjective life expectancy (the subjective probability of living to age 75 years) and sex, type of school attended, year in school and self-reported adolescent drinking behaviours.
Design: The study employed a cross-sectional design.
Methods: Participants were school children (aged 11–16 years) from post-primary (high) schools in Northern Ireland. Participants completed a questionnaire, including an assessment of subjective life expectancy, alcohol use and demographic measures.
Results: In bivariate analyses, there were significant differences in subjective life expectancy and sex, year in school, type of school attended and self-reported relationship with alcohol. Results of multinomial logistic regression, controlling for clustering at school level and socio-demographic measures, showed that more problematic drinking was significantly associated with a reduced life expectancy. Therefore, individual perceptions of subjective life expectancy accounted for some of the variance in problematic drinking above and beyond that predicted by socio-demographic factors.
Conclusion: Although there was an observed association between subjective life expectancy and self-reported alcohol use, future longitudinal research could assess the degree to which future time perspective predicts initiation into alcohol use and escalation into more problematic use among adolescents.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.