Adolescents who do not attend scholl, who are they? Results from householdsurvey conducted in Pachuca, Hgo.

Household surveys are an excellent method for capturing those adolescents t hat for whatever reasons are not attending school at the time, and therefor e are left out of school surveys. Two groups were compared in this study: 2 40 adolescent students and 73 young adults not attending school. The data was collected from a probabilistic sample of selected households b ased on a multistep, stratified design where the stratification variable wa s the socioeconomic level. The sample respondents were interviewed in their homes and the average interview lasted an hour. The non-response rate was below 5 %. The instrument was specifically developed for young adults between 15 and 1 7 years of age. The questionnaire is standardized and applied in an individ ual interview; the validity and reliability has been widely aproved. Specif ic interest indicators for this study, have been added. The final household adolescent sample consists of 313 completed interviews, of which 45 % (141) were made to males and 55 % (172) to females. Of these , 76.6 % were students and 23.4 % were not attending school at the time of the interview. Most of the adolescents not attending school (51.4 %) reported that their l ast grade had been in grammar school. One subject reported not having had a ny formal education. Half of the teenagers not attending school (51 %) have a job, while the rest simply reported dropping out of school (26 %) or con sidered themselves unemployed (15 %). The socioeconomic level of adolescent s not attending school is lower than that of the ones attending school. There were significant differences in leisure time activities of school and non-school adolescents. The young adults who attended school were more lik ely to "practice sports" and "go out with the family." Those who did not at tend school were more likely to do "nothing and get bored". Although not st atistically significant, the non-school youth had a tendency to "help with housekeeping activities", "play Nintendo and video games" and "drink with f riends." Alcohol consumption practices of both adolescent groups are not significant ly different, however, males not attending school drink more frequently and more quantities of alcohol. Furthermore, there are factors within their so cial environment that represent a higher risk for drinking alcohol and havi ngrelated problems. It seems that teenagers not attending school are more e xposed to alcohol due to the frequent alcohol consumption of relatives, fri ends and other people close to them. They also seem to be more likely to ha ve at least one family member with alcohol consumption problems. Moreover, their social rules regarding alcohol use are more liberal; they show a high er permissive level of alcohol intake and perceive higher alcohol availabil ity. The double parameters for males and females are shown in their alcohol inta ke and social rules, as well as in their activities during leisure time. The data gathered for this study are the first obtained in Mexico from adol escents not attending school. This opens a new research and prevention fiel d in which important variables are studied which may be useful for the prev ention efforts to delay the onset of adolescent alcohol consumption. This p articular study involved family and social environment, alcohol availabilit y, social rules and risk behaviors that could he related to both school att endance or inattendance and alcohol consumption.