SOCIAL SETTINGS AND SITUATIONS OF UNDERAGE DRINKING

Objective: Social settings and situations of underage drinking were de scribed for students from 15 communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin. R eports of their last drinking event, including setting, number of pers ons drinking with them, number of those persons under age 21, and whom they were with, were examined. The role of these variables in the pre diction of having five or more drinks on one occasion was assessed. Me thod: Ninth graders (n = 2,269) and 12th graders (n = 2,377) who repor ted using alcohol in the last 30 days were included in the sample from a nested cross-sectional survey design. Bivariate analyses were perfo rmed between the situational variables and gender, number of older sib lings and drinking behavior. Chi-square statistics were divided by an estimate of the design effect and multivariate analyses used mixed-mod el regression to correct for the nesting of individuals within communi ties. Results: Situations and settings of drinking differed according to age and drinking behavior. Twelfth graders were less likely to drin k with parents or other adults than 9th graders and more Likely to dri nk in someone else's home, and in large groups where nearly everyone w as underage. Persons reporting having five or more drinks on one occas ion in the last 2 weeks were more likely to report drinking with peers , in large groups of underage persons and away from home. Conclusions: Interventions to reduce use of alcohol by youth must focus on the con text in which the drinking is taking place in addition to other factor s. Policy or educational interventions that seek to alter the situatio ns and settings of underage drinking may be effective in reducing cons umption of alcohol in adolescents.