The patterns of alcohol use among Warsaw adolescents across 20 years - from 1988 to 2008

Abstract

Okulicz-Kozaryn, K. & Borucka, A. (2013). Patterns of alcohol use among Warsaw adolescents across 20 years—from 1988 to 2008. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 2(2), 37-44. doi: 10.7895/ijadr.v2i2.102 (http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v2i2.102)

Aim: The study investigates patterns of alcohol drinking among 15-year-old Polish students in Warsaw over the past 20 years.

Methods: Data were collected from six consecutive surveys, beginning in 1988 (N = 3918) and conducted every four years (in 2008, N = 1229).

Results: Two-step cluster analysis across all six consecutive surveys indicated a clear differentiation of the social context of adolescent alcohol drinking patterns. Adolescents are least likely to drink alcohol alone (< 5%) or heavily with peers (< 10%), more likely to drink with parents (15%-20%), in moderate amounts with peers (11%-28%) or not at all (11%-27%), and most likely to be light social drinkers (30%-46%). Cross-gender comparisons suggest that traditional gender differences are fading away; the data show increases in moderate social drinking among females and abstinence among males.

Conclusions: Our results confirm that adolescents’ patterns of alcohol use are stable over time, despite the social and political changes that have occurred in Poland since 1988, and reflect a pattern of mostly moderate drinking.