A Study on the Prevalence and Predictors of Problem Drinking among High School Students in Korea

청소년기 문제성 음주 실태와 결정요인에 관한 연구

This study focuses on high school students and aims not only to examine the relationships among problem drinking measures and drinking motives to cope but also to determine the factors to predict the negative consequences related to alcohol. 1,436 self-reported questionnaires were collected from seven big cities' high school students who had ever experienced drinking. The survey data identified the following results; first, there were statistically significant differences in drinking motives to cope and 4 measures of problem drinking depending on gender and the school type. It should be noted that more girls and more students in vocational schools had experienced drunkenness rather than boys and students in academic schools unlike alcohol consumption, binge drinking, and negative consequences related to alcohol. Second, the use of alcohol to cope may place individuals at greater risk for alcohol problems. Four dimensions of problem drinking are moderately correlated to drinking motives to cope. Third, the result from logistic regressions indicated that factors related to drinking (binge drinking, drunkenness, and drinking reasons to cope) rather than demographic factors would be contributed more to one more as well as two more negative consequences. Especially, drunkeness seems to be the best factor to predict negative consequences related to alcohol. Implications for developing prevention programs are suggested.