Drinking behaviour among teenagers in Switzerland and correlation with lifestyles

Several criteria (frequency, hazardous use, drunkenness) were used to delin eate four distinct groups and to analyse the relations between patterns of alcohol use and other health variables. In the 1993 Swiss Multicentre Adole scent Survey on Health, anonymous self-administered questionnaires were dis tributed to a national representative sample of in-school 15 to 20-year-old adolescents. Of the respondents, 25% answered a module targeting alcohol u se (n = 2359) of whom 13% were totally abstinent, 55.1% were moderate drink ers (less than or equal to 1 drink/week and <3 times drunk), 21.7% were 'so cial' drinkers (>3 times drunk and < twice driven when drunk) and 10.2% wer e 'problem drinkers' (> twice driven whilst drunk or >1 drink/day). Differe nces between problem drinkers and the rest of the sample showed the former as being predominantly boys with an odds ratio (OR) of 6.3, having a higher lifetime prevalence rate of cannabis use (OR = 3.4), never using seat belt s (OR = 2.5), having their family/peers more often involved in alcohol cons umption (OR = 1.9), being predominantly apprentices (against high school pu pils OR = 1.9), having cheated during courses (OR = 1.9), being a member of a gang (OR = 1.7), having stolen in a public area (OR = 1.7) and having co nsidered suicide (OR = 1.8). Conclusion Within the Swiss context, whereas moderate/occasional use of alc ohol must be considered as part of an adolescents' development, regular use of alcohol, often associated with drunkenness and driving while drunk, is associated with various health hazards and problems. Preventive strategies should be built accordingly.