Impact of Family Level Factors on Alcohol Drinking in Primary School Children

Abstract

SUMMARYObjective: The aim of our study was to identify and analyze selected factors influencing alcohol use among primary school children aged 8 to15 years in the academic year 2009/10.Methods: The sample consisted of children from 28 primary schools. Data of this cross-sectional study were collected using questionnaires. Chi-Square test was used to test differences in proportions of observed phenomena between boys and girls. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the influence of selected factors on the variable "child's alcohol drinking per week".Results: The sample consisted of 2,494 respondents (52% of boys, 48% of girls). In the study group 78% of all respondents (95% CI=76−80) drank alcohol infrequently (less than once a week) or did not drink alcohol at all, and 22% of respondents (95% CI=20−24) drank alcohol at least once a week.More boys than girls considered alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and spirit as quite easily available. We performed the model of multivariate logistic regression analysis using the independent variables: age of respondents, gender of respondents, mother's alcohol drinking, father's alcohol drinking, sibling's alcohol drinking, parental rules, parental control, and mental support from parents (if their children have problems) to identify their effect on the dependent variable − child's alcohol drinking per week. We found out that mother's alcohol drinking and a lack of mental support from parents did not have a statistically significant influence on child's alcohol drinking per week. Conclusion:The results of our study point to the fact that it is necessary to focus on the prevention of alcohol drinking in general and among school children in particular. We recommend greater control of the sale of alcoholic beverages, so as to prevent the purchase by people under 18 years of age.

Changing Pattern of Acute Alcohol Intoxications in Children

“…There are various risk factors for drinking in children including parents especially a father [ 6 ] or other relative who often consumes alcohol as these adults are usually a social role model and children often follow their parent’s behavior and develop a similar drinking pattern through observational learning, deviant peer affiliations, and an elevated alcohol tolerance; or when there is less parental supervising and strictness [ 7 ], or poor parental insight into children’s activities during their leisure time, and less parental control and fewer rules [ 6 ]. More girls reported coping motives than boys [ 5 , 8 ], and more often drink alcohol when they were depressed or to cheer up when they have problems, often leading to binge drinking [ 5 ].…”

The association between maternal and paternal substance use and child substance use, internalizing and externalizing problems: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…All parents within the studies were biological relatives. Fifteen studies included data associated with parental alcohol misuse [7,8,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51], four included data for illicit drug use [42,45,47,52] and one included data on substance use (alcohol and/or drugs combined) [53]. Fifteen studies examined child exposure to paternal substance use [7,8,40,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] and 11 studies examined exposure to maternal substance use [7, 39, 41-45, 48, 49, 52, 53].…”

“…Fifteen studies included data associated with parental alcohol misuse [7,8,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51], four included data for illicit drug use [42,45,47,52] and one included data on substance use (alcohol and/or drugs combined) [53]. Fifteen studies examined child exposure to paternal substance use [7,8,40,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] and 11 studies examined exposure to maternal substance use [7, 39, 41-45, 48, 49, 52, 53]. Study outcomes varied with 12 studies reporting on child substance use [7, 8, 39-46, 48, 51], seven studies reporting on child externalizing problems [39,40,47,48,50,51,53] and six studies reporting on child internalizing problems [39,47,…”

“…Study outcomes varied with 12 studies reporting on child substance use [7, 8, 39-46, 48, 51], seven studies reporting on child externalizing problems [39,40,47,48,50,51,53] and six studies reporting on child internalizing problems [39,47,48,50,51,53]. Six of the studies used a longitudinal design [8,41,42,44,45,52], six were cross-sectional studies [7,40,43,46,49,50] and five were cohort studies [39,47,48,51,53]. Six studies reported adjusted outcomes only [8,41,43,46,48,53].…”

Siblings as socialization agents

“…Although not the focus of this study, the research presented has important intersections into social marketing discourse that surrounds unwanted consumption behaviours such as alcohol consumption and modelling transfers within the family setting, which has hitherto largely focussed on peer pressure and parental influence (Janssen et al, 2014). In one of the very few studies where quantitative research has measured sibling influence on alcohol consumption in children, a high correlation between sibling alcohol consumption and uptake of this behaviour by younger siblings was found (Rehorčiková et al, 2013). Our theorising of identification and disidentification might be used to inform these studies highlighting why some children do not copy their siblings but carve out alternative consumption identities, as in the case of Jack and Mark.…”