PROCUREMENT OF ALCOHOL AND UNDERAGE DRINKING AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN ONTARIO

Objective: The purpose of this article is to examine the procurement o f alcohol among underage drinkers. Method: The data are based on a sur vey of 3,571 students in Ontario schools. Underage drinkers were those younger than 19 years of age. Data were gathered with an anonymous qu estionnaire administered in classrooms in 1992. The data include descr iptive analysis of underage procurement and a cluster analysis of unde rage drinker types (n = 1,125; 566 female). Results: Most students Fou nd alcohol easy to obtain, with the most common access being from pare nts' supplies or older friends. Four types of underage drinkers were i dentified: bar drinkers (5%), frequent purchasers (10%), frequent obta iners (3%) and infrequent obtainers (83%). Conclusions: Frequent self purchasers and infrequent secondary purchasers have the highest levels of consumption and problems. However, most underage drinkers report n o problems.