Prevalence and Factors Associated with Alcohol Consumption Among Secondary School Students in Nekemte, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Secondary School Students in Nekemte Town, 2022 (N = 291)

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage
Sex	Male	145	49.8
	Female	146	50.2
Age (years)	15–19	117	40.2
	20–24	174	59.8
Grade Level	Grade 9	65	22.3
	Grade 10	70	24.1
	Grade 11	76	26.1
	Grade 12	80	27.5
Residence	Urban	154	52.9
	Rural	137	47.1
Religion	Orthodox Christians	162	55.7
	Muslim	9	3.1
	Protestant Christians	116	39.9
	Wakefata	4	1.4
Present residence	Home	76	26.1
	Rented house	163	56.0
	Relative place	52	17.9
Average monthly income^# from family or others (in birr)	Less than 500	206	70.8
	501–1000	36	12.4
	1001–1500	25	8.6
	1501–2000	14	4.8
	>2000	10	3.4

Note: ^#1 USD = 51.94 Birr in November 2022.

Table 2 Prevalence of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students in Nekemte Town, 2022

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage
Alcohol use	Yes	81	27.84
	No	210	72.16
Age when alcohol is consumed for the first time (N =81)	<15	1	1.23
	15–19	60	74.07
	20–24	20	24.69
A location where alcohol is consumed for the first time	Home	32	39.51
	Friends’ house	4	4.94
	Hotel	18	22.22
	Park	9	11.11
	Restaurant and bar	18	22.22
Reasons for your first alcohol consumption	Religious occasion	16	19.75
	Family occasion	42	51.85
	Because of peer	19	23.46
	To forget sorrows	4	4.94
Type of alcohol consumed for the first time	Beer	39	48.15
	Wine	6	7.41
	Whisky	1	1.23
	Gin	1	1.23
	Tej	8	9.88
	Tela	21	25.93
	Araki	5	6.17
With whom did you first drink alcohol	Family members	26	32.10
	Boy/Girlfriend	24	29.63
	Relative	20	24.69
	Nobody	11	13.58
Frequency of alcohol consumption in the past 30 days	Never	22	27.16
	1 or 2 times	43	53.09
	3 to 9 times	11	13.58
	10 or more times	5	6.17
Having a family member who drinks (N=291)	Father	48	16.49
	Mother	13	4.47
	Father and mother	26	8.93
	Brother/sister	18	6.19
	No one	185	63.57
Having friends who drink	Yes	61	20.96
	No	230	79.04
Smoking cigarettes	Yes	30	10.31
	No	261	89.69
Chewing khat	Yes	26	8.93
	No	265	91.1

Table 3 Perceptions of Alcohol Use Among Secondary School Students in Nekemte Town, 2022

Variables	Category	Frequency	Percentage
How much alcohol will a normal person consume to become a drinker?	Less than one drink	58	19.93
	1 drink	140	48.11
	2 drinks	70	24.05
	3 drinks	6	2.06
	4 drinks	10	3.44
	5 or more drinks	6	2.06
How much do you think people harm themselves if they drink alcohol once or twice a month?	No risk	151	51.89
	Slight risk	19	6.53
	Moderate risk	35	12.03
	Great risk	38	13.06
	I do not know	17	5.84
Which alcoholic beverage do you think is the safest?	Beer	29	9.97
	Wine	6	2.06
	Tej	70	24.05
	Tela	150	51.55
	Araki	35	12.03
What positive benefit can alcohol consumption provide?	No positive health benefits	215	73.88
	Protects the heart	2	0.69
	Removes mental stress	44	15.12
	Helps with socializing	29	9.97
Has one of your family members discussed with you the harmful effects of drinking alcohol?	Yes	32	11.00
	No	259	89.00

Figure 1 Nekemte secondary school students’ responses to the reason for drinking alcohol.

Table 4 Bivariate and Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis of Factors Associated with Alcohol Consumption Among Secondary School Students in Nekemte, 2022

Variables	Category	Alcohol Use		COR (95% CI)	AOR (95% CI)	P value
		Yes	No
		N (%)	N (%)
Sex	Male	44 (30.3)	101 (69.7)	1.283 (0.767–2.146)	1.220 (0.671–2.220)	0.215
	Female^#	37 (25.3)	109 (74.7)
Age	15–19 years^#	28 (23.9)	89 (76.1)
	20–24 years	53 (30.5)	121 (69.5)	1.392 (0.817–2.374)	2.755 (1.307–5.809)	0.008
Grade Level	9th grade^#	16 (24.6)	49 (75.4)
	10th grade	20 (28.6)	50 (71.4)	1.312 (0.626–2.750)
	11th grade	21 (27.6)	55 (72.4)	1.071 (0.529–2.169)
	12th grade	24 (30.0)	56 (70.0)	1.122 (0.561–2.246)
Residence	Urban	51 (33.1)	103 (66.9)	1.766 (0.974–2.988)	1.674 (0.962–2.914)	0.048
	Rural^#	30 (21.9)	107 (78.1)
Religion	Orthodox Christians	46 (28.4)	118 (71.6)	0.793 (0.190–3.305)
	Muslim	3 (33.3)	6 (66.7)	1.087 (0.637–1.856)
	Protestant Christians	31 (26.7)	83 (73.3)	1.190 (0.121–11.734)
	Wakefata^#	1 (25.0)	3 (75.0)
Average monthly income from family or others	Less than 500 birrs^#	58 (28.2)	148 (71.8)
	501–1000	11 (30.6)	25 (69.4)	0.638 (0.132–3.094)
	1001–1500	6 (24.0)	19 (76.0)	0.568 (0.103–3.123)
	1501–2000	4 (28.6)	10 (71.4)	0.792 (0.131–4.794)
	>2000	2 (20.0)	8 (80.0)	0.625 (0.090–4.329)
Having a family member who drinks	Father	15 (31.3)	33 (68.8)	1.197 (0.404–3.540)	0.377 (0.156–0.911)	0.030
	Mother	5 (38.5)	8 (61.5)	0.846 (0.255–2.805)	0.296 (0.082–1.064)	0.062
	Both parents	11 (40.7)	15 (59.3)	0.615 (0.135–2.815)	0.190 (0.070–0.512)	0.001
	Brother/sister	5 (27.8)	13 (72.2)	0.559 (0.155–2.024)	0.229 (0.066–0.788)	0.019
	No one drinks^#	45 (24.3)	140 (75.7)
Having friends who drink	Yes	23 (37.7)	38 (62.3)	1.795 (0.988–3.261)	1.740 (0.918–3.300)	0.042
	No^#	58 (25.2)	172 (74.8)
Smoking cigarettes	Yes	8 (26.7)	22 (73.3)	0.936 (0.3992.198)	0.426 (0.104–1.740)	0.035
	No^#	73 (28.0)	187 (72.0)
Chewing khat	Yes	10 (38.5)	16 (61.5)	1.708 (0.7413.938)	2.185 (0.539–8.855)	0.044
	No^#	71 (26.8)	194 (73.2)

Note: ^#Reference category.

Abbreviations: COR, crude odds ratio; AOR, adjusted odds ratio.