Alcohol and alcoholism among Brazilian adolescent public-school students

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of alcohol consumption and alcoholism among working and non-working adolescents. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with a systematic, stratified sample 993 working adolescents and 1,725 non-working adolescents. The study included students enrolled in 1998 in the state public network schools of a city in Center-Western Brazil. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was completed by subjects in the classroom. Univariate and bivariate analyses and logistic regression were used. RESULTS: We found prevalences of 71.3% for alcohol consumption and 13.4% for alcoholism in the total sample, and higher prevalences among working students (81.0% and 14.9%) than among non-workers (65.8% and 12.6%). In addition to the association between alcohol use and work, we found both differences and similarities between the two groups. Alcoholism is not associated with work but is associated with male sex (OR=1.61; 95% CI: 1.18-2.19) and family history of alcohol use among both non-workers (OR=2.19; 95% CI: 1.60-2.99) and workers (OR=2.10; 95% CI: 1.42-3.12). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study indicate a high prevalence of alcohol consumption and alcoholism, which is higher among working adolescents. Sociodemographic, family, and work-related factors must be considered when attempting to implement educational measures aimed at changing alcohol-related behaviors in this population.