Problems associated with binge drinking among students in Brazil’s state capitals

Abstract

The scope of this article is to describe and estimate the odds of problems among adolescents who reported binge drinking compared to those who reported alcohol consumption without binge drinking. The sample included 10,666 fourteen to eighteen-year-old public and private high school students in the 27 Brazilian state capitals who reported alcohol consumption at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey The odds of problems arising were estimated by ordinal logistic regression. Half of the students reported binge drinking and 33.1% admitted to at least one problem as a result. Binge drinking in the year (aOR = 4.7; CI: 3.9-5.7) and month (aOR = 4.4; CI:3.6-5.4) was associated with greater odds of reported problems. The most likely problems were: going to school or work drunk (aOR:6.5; CI:3.6-11.9); having sex without a condom (aOR:5.0; CI:3.7-6.8); and getting into a fight (aOR:4.5; CI:3.2-6.3). Adolescents who go binge drinking are more exposed to alcohol-related problems than those who report lower alcohol consumption. It is suggested that alcohol education/prevention programs should consider the most prevalent problems and risk behaviors, thereby broadening the discussion on consumption of alcohol versus non-consumption of alcohol.