IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i8p1671-d162263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Educational and Psychosocial Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Adolescents in Denmark; Implications for Health Literacy Interventions

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia König

    (Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, Bygning 1260, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark)

  • Mette V. Skriver

    (Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, Bygning 1260, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark)

  • Kim M. Iburg

    (Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, Bygning 1260, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark)

  • Gillian Rowlands

    (Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)

Abstract

Background. Alcohol misuse is a global public health priority, with a variation in prevalence and impact between countries. Alcohol misuse in adolescence is associated with adverse psychological, social and physical health. Adolescents in Denmark have higher alcohol consumption and problematic alcohol use than adolescents in other European countries. Associations between social determinants of health (SDH), psycho-social factors and alcohol consumption are complex and influenced by national context and cultures. This study explored these associations in Danish adolescents. Method . The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) survey collects data on alcohol and substance use among 15–16-year-old European students. Data contributed by Danish students to the 2011 survey were analyzed. The outcomes of interest were alcohol consumption (any, intoxication and problematic). Health literacy was not directly measured, so self-described educational performance and knowledge about alcohol were used as proxies for health literacy. Exploratory factors thus included socio-demographic, health literacy-related (knowledge about alcohol, educational performance) and psycho-social factors, as well as expectancies of the effect of alcohol (both positive and negative) and self-reported health. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were undertaken. Results . Of the 2768 adolescents who participated in the survey, 2026 (80%) consumed alcohol during the last 30 days, 978 (38%) were intoxicated at least once during the last 30 days, and 1050 (41%) experienced at least one problem because of alcohol use during the last 12 months. Multivariable analysis showed that the factors associated with higher alcohol intake were gender, poor relationships with parents, expectancies of the impact of alcohol (both positive and negative), and the influence of peers and their alcohol use. Higher school performance was related to lower alcohol consumption. Low socio-demographic status was not associated with higher alcohol consumption. Conclusions . This study confirmed the high levels of alcohol intake, intoxication, and problem drinking amongst the Danish students in the survey and the complexity of the socio-demographic, psychosocial, health literacy-related, and environmental factors associated with alcohol behaviours. Approaches to addressing the issue of alcohol use in Danish adolescents will need to be multi-factorial, including supporting students to develop alcohol-related health literacy skills to enable them to make informed choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia König & Mette V. Skriver & Kim M. Iburg & Gillian Rowlands, 2018. "Understanding Educational and Psychosocial Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Adolescents in Denmark; Implications for Health Literacy Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-13, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1671-:d:162263
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1671/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1671/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liesbeth de Wit & Pania Karnaki & Archontoula Dalma & Peter Csizmadia & Charlotte Salter & Andrea de Winter & Louise Meijering, 2020. "Health Literacy in the Everyday Lives of Older Adults in Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Junaidi Budi Prihanto & Faridha Nurhayati & Endang Sri Wahjuni & Ryota Matsuyama & Miwako Tsunematsu & Masayuki Kakehashi, 2021. "Health Literacy and Health Behavior: Associated Factors in Surabaya High School Students, Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Gilberto Gerra & Elisa Benedetti & Giuliano Resce & Roberta Potente & Arianna Cutilli & Sabrina Molinaro, 2020. "Socioeconomic Status, Parental Education, School Connectedness and Individual Socio-Cultural Resources in Vulnerability for Drug Use among Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Don Nutbeam & Diane Levin-Zamir & Gill Rowlands, 2018. "Health Literacy in Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-3, November.
    5. Charlotte Demant Klinker & Anna Aaby & Lene Winther Ringgaard & Anneke Vang Hjort & Melanie Hawkins & Helle Terkildsen Maindal, 2020. "Health Literacy is Associated with Health Behaviors in Students from Vocational Education and Training Schools: A Danish Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    6. Zeyang Cheng & Zhenshan Zu & Jian Lu & Yunxuan Li, 2019. "Exploring the Effect of Driving Factors on Traffic Crash Risk among Intoxicated Drivers: A Case Study in Wujiang," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-13, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1671-:d:162263. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.