How many children live with persons with problematic drinking patterns across 19 European countries?

Abstract

The harm from others’ drinking alcohol is well documented by researchers in different countries and with different cultural backgrounds across the world. Studies highlighted the use of alcohol in a problematic way as a crucial factor for a child’s normal physical, emotional, and social development. This study estimated the prevalence of children living with at least one person with a problematic drinking pattern (PPDP) in the household in 19 European countries. Furthermore, it examined age and gender differences in the prevalence of PPDP. Data from the Standardized European Alcohol Survey project (RARHA SEAS-1) and Eurostat was used to calculate the prevalence of children living with at least one PPDP. A four-item version of the Rapid Alcohol Problems Screen test was applied. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis were conducted with SPSS. The prevalence of children living together with a PPDP varied from 6.2% in Italy to 35.2% in Lithuania. The total number of children living with PPDP was estimated to 9,271,150 in 19 European countries in 2015. The number of children living in an environment with PPDP is particularly high. Research in this area is important to bring this issue to policy agendas.

Keywords:

• Prevalence
• children
• household
• problematic drinking patterns
• Standardized European Alcohol Survey

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Jacek Moskalewicz and Janusz Sieroslawski for valuable advice and for the facilitation of data access.

Disclosure statement

There is no commercial or any other conflict of interest for the authors to declare with regard to the manuscript or the subject matter. Data from the Standardized European Alcohol Survey project (RARHA SEAS) and Eurostat was used. Views expressed in this article are those of the authors only.

Additional information

Funding

This article was produced under a grant [S-MIP20-2] from the Research Council of Lithuania. RARHA SEAS received funding from the European Union in the framework of Health Programme.