Cultural orientation and adolescents' alcohol use in Zimbabwe

Abstract

A classroom survey was conducted in June 1994 among 3061 secondary school students in four provinces in Zimbabwe, with the main objective of measuring health behaviours, school performance and environmental and cultural factors as predictors for drug use. This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between cultural orientation and alcohol use. The survey instrument was based on previous studies undertaken in Zimbabwe and in Europe and adapted to the local situation. A two-staged stratified random sampling strategy distinguished between four different socio-cultural groups. Standardized instructions were given in classrooms by a trained research team. Respondents' mean ages were 14.9 years for boys and 15.1 years for girls, and 51.4% were boys. For a number of core questions, test-retest reliability was shown to be satisfactory. A 14-item scale focusing on language, mass media and music preferences was constructed to measure cultural orientation. Principal component analysis revealed two distinct factors with low interfactor correlation and acceptable scale reliability (alpha), one representing Western orientation and the other Zimbabwean or traditional cultural orientation. Zimbabwean orientation was found to be associated with lower alcohol use, whereas western orientation was associated with higher probability for alcohol use.

Alcohol Use, Abuse, and Treatment in People of African Descent

“…The researchers also found that Black ethnicity was a protective factor against alcohol use in both cultures, but the effect was stronger against alcohol use in South African students. Sutherland, Ericson / Alcohol Use and Treatment 79 Eide and Acuda (1996) found that Zimbabwean youths who embraced their Zimbabwean traditional cultural orientation rather than the Western orientation were less likely to consume alcohol. This is also evident in other studies performed in the United States which have found that African Americans who were more involved with Black social networks and had greater awareness of Black social and political issues tended to consume less alcohol (Herd & Grube, 1996).…”

The Epidemiology of Addiction in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Synthesis of Reports, Reviews, and Original Articles

“…The largest studies have been carried out in Kenya, 27 Lesotho, 28 Nigeria, 29 and Zimbabwe (Table 3). 30,31 The studies showed that lifetime prevalence of use varied markedly from 38% in Kenya to 48% in Lesotho, with prevalence rates from other countries falling in between. Similarly, prevalence of current or recent use ranged from 6.2% in Lesotho to 12% in Nigeria.…”

“…One study in Zimbabwe found that alcohol use was more prevalent among students with western cultural orientation than among those with traditional cultural orientation. 31 Two recent studies have attempted to compare prevalence of alcohol use among Congolese and French students 32 and between South African students and students in the United States. 33 In the first study, the drinking patterns of a sample of 1,637 French high-school students were compared with those of a sample of 155 Congolese high-school students.…”

“…18 In a community survey of 4,351 adults in South Africa, using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Eide and Acuda (1996) Interview (CIDI), 19 alcohol abuse was the most prevalent lifetime health problem, affecting 11.4% of the population surveyed, of which 2.6% met the criteria for alcohol dependence. In Nigeria, Gureje et al 12 used stratified multistage random sampling to study 6,752 adults from 21 of the 36 states in Nigeria, also using the WHO CIDI.…”

Global ramifications of European alcohol policies

“…In Zimbabwe, Eide & Acuda (1996;Eide et al 1998) found students with more western attitudes and tastes and from wealthier backgrounds more likely to drink more and to prefer clear rather than traditional sorghum beer.…”