PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL

Alcohol Use

Problematic drinking behaviour can impair adolescents' psychological development and result in significant behavioural problems. 41

Measure

The percentage of children aged 10-17 who report to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days.

Key findings

  • In 2006, 20.4% of children aged 10-17 reported that they had been drunk at least once in the last 30 days (see Table 67).

Table 67: Percentage of children who report to have been drunk at least once
in the last 30 days, by gender, age and social class (2006)

  Boys Girls Total
Total 21.4 19.3 20.4
Age      
10-11 years 2.7 1.2 1.8
12-14 years 10.8 9.7 10.3
15-17 years 38.3 37.7 38.0
Social class      
SC 1-2 20.2 18.5 19.4
SC 3-4 19.5 19.7 19.6
SC 5-6 21.2 18.4 19.8

Source: HBSC Survey

Differences by gender and social class

  • The percentage of children who reported to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days is relatively stable across social class (see Table 67).
  • The percentage of children aged 10-17 who reported to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days is marginally higher among boys and older children:
    • 21.4% of boys, compared to 19.3% of girls;
    • 38% of children aged 15-17, compared to 10.3% of 12-14 year-olds and 1.8% of 10-11 year-olds.

Differences by geographic area

  • Children in the Dublin region are more likely (27.4%) to report to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days, while children in the South-West region are least likely (13%) to report this (see Table 68).

Table 68: Percentage of children who report to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days, by NUTS Region (2006)

 

 2006
Border

 17.8
Midlands

 26.2
West

 19.3
Dublin

 27.4
Mid-East

 19.3
Mid-West

 18.0
South-East

 22.0
South-West

 13.0
Overall

20.4

Source: HBSC Survey

International comparisons

  • From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using only those in the 15-year-old age group to draw international comparisons, 29.0% of Irish children reported that they had been drunk at least once in the last 30 days (see Figure 26). This is above the HBSC average of 21.7%.
  • Among the 9 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among children from Poland (15.7%) and the highest among children from Austria (30.6%). Overall, Irish children ranked 2nd highest.

Figure 26: Percentage of children aged 15 who report to have been drunk at least once in the last 30 days, by country (2006)

fig24

Source: HBSC Survey

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:
SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 – Ireland; Level 2 – Regions; and Level 3 – Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

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41 Godeau, E., Ross, J., François, Y., Marshall, L., Maltby, J., Aszmann, A., Jensen, L., King, M., Nic Gabhainn, S., Rahav, G., Rasmussen, M., Terzidou, M. and Maka, Z. (2001) 'Focus Area Rationale: Risk Behaviour: Substance Use'. In: C. Currie, O. Samdal, W. Boyce and R. Smith (eds.), Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: A World Health Organization Cross-National Study: Research Protocol for the 2001/02 Survey. Edinburgh: Child and Adolescent Health Research Unit, University of Edinburgh.