This article quick in emergenciess some results of a fresh national survey of adolescent drinking behavior.

This article quick in emergenciess some results of a fresh national survey of adolescent drinking behavior. Specifically, three topics related to adolescent drinking are described:

* The prevalence of alcohol consumption and heavy drinking in nationally representative samples of 8th- and 10th-graders.

* The prevalence of combined alcohol and unsalable article in a single setting

* The relationship between the age of first alcohol use and the increase of heavy drinking and the combined use of alcohol and other mix with drugss (termed "polydrug" use).

The data existinged in this article were complied primarily fron the National Adolescent close examiner Health Survey (NASHS). The overlook was initiated in 1985 on the American School Health Association, the Association for the Advancement of Health Education, and the Society for Public Health Education (1989) The organizations worked in conjunction with the National Institute forward Drug Abuse, the Office of Desease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Oublic Health Service to plan and evolve the survey.

scan questions pertained to various features of adolescent health, including alcohol and other mix with drugs use. Not all questions were asked of all scholars This was done to allow as wide a range of issues related to adolescent health to be included in the questionnaire as possible. Thus, a core station of 11 questions, concerning, for example, demographic and general alcohol-use information, was instanted to all students. Other questions, as it was as those related to heavy drinking, were administered to simply one-third of the sample.

The view sample consisted of 11,400 learners in 8th and 10th grades, from 225 denominations in 20 States. Thirty-four exercises were private, and 190 were public. The pupils represented a cross-section of learners in the United States.

The data were gathered during the fall of 1987 review assessments were conducted by trained scrutinize administrators in the classrooms, and scholars remained anonymous.

Eighth-grade observers represented the junior high sect population, and 10th-grade students the senior high teach population. Tenth-graders were chosen rather than 12th-graders to lessen the impact of school dropout or prevalence estimates. Approximately 89 percent of eligible 8th-graders and 86 percent of eligible 10th-graders participated in the measure and estimate assessment. (Nonparticipation was proper to absenteeism on the day that the overlook was administered or to lack of parental or adolescent informed consent)

Alcohol Consumption

Among Adolescents

brace indexes of alcohol consumption among adolescents were comput The first pertained to whether adolescents had till doomsday in their lifetime used alcohol; the inferior pertained to the frequency (the number of occations) of alcohol use in the past 30 days. Table 1 provides a summary of findings for these indexes.

Consistent with earlier findings from measure and estimates of adolescents (Barnes and Welte 1986; Johnston et al. 1986) the be the effects of the NASHS indicated that many adolescents (759 percent of 8th-graders and 873 percent of 10th-graders) have used alcohol in their lifetime. The numbers of male and female learners who had used alcohol during their lifetime were similar

[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

for the sum of two units grade levels. Racial and ethnic form into groups comparisons across grade levels consistently indicated that fewer black scholars have used alcohol than white or Hispanic students

To determine the common occurrence of alcohol consumption, students were asked to indicate the number of occasions in the past 30 days when they had consum alcoholic beverages. Questions about the quantity of alcohol consum by occasion were not asked; therefore, standard quantity--frequency indexes of alcohol use could not be calculated. Nevertheless, to determine the puissance of the association between the number of occasions of heavy drinking and the commonness of alcohol use, a Pearson correlation (1) proof was perfomed. Heavy drinking was determined at asking students how many times during the past 2 weeks they had consum five or more drinks consecutively. The Pearson correlation for the total sample was 070 and the magnitude of this correlation indicates a mighty association between the frequency of alcohol consumption and the number of occasions of heavy drinking.

As the values in Table 1 indicate, more 10th-grade pupils consume alcohol than 8th-grade learners This is reflected by the agency of the decrease in the percentage of abstaining bookish mans in 10th grade, the relatively stable percentage of infrequent drinkers in one as well as the other 8th and 10th grades, and the approximate doubling of the number of 10th-graders who drink occasionally and who drink frequently

Again, consistent with past research (Barnes and Welte 1986; Johnston et al. 1986) form relative to sex differences in the numbers of scholars who drink are dwindling. However, more male adolescents than female adolescents fall into the frequent-drinking category. sum of two units findings are significant with regard to racial and ethnic arrange comparisons: black students represent the largest percentage of abstainers the two across grade levels and inflection for sex groups. Tenth-grade white and Hispanic scholars represent the largest percentage of adolescents falling into the category of resort to frequently drinking.