Fichier: 

Focus n5.pdf

Couverture: 

That can we say about alcohol consumption by 13-20 year-olds in France today? In what kind of environment does a young person develop between his first experience
of alcohol and the consumption habits he has acquired between 18 and 20 years old?What are the social, demographic, psychological and geographical factors associated
with frequent or excessive consumption?
The relationship between young French people and alcohol must be the object of our utmost attention. Drinking alcohol is a meaningful act: it conveys an emerging sociability, a rite of passage between friends or psychological distress. But it is also at this stage that adult consumption is formed, and where we can detect behaviour that can become problematic.
IREB has been building up its expertise on this multi-faceted section of the population since 1985, the date of its first longitudinal survey about young people. Thus, the institute have been closely following the most important targets of prevention campaigns. The frequency, environment, patterns and factors associated with consumption have been measured and analysed.
Carried out in November 2001 from a representative sample of 1028 French adolescent boys and girls of 13 to 20 years of age, this new IREB cross-sectional survey confirms the downward trend in alcohol consumption.
Drunkeness is nevertheless a major problem and we obviously shouldn’t forget that alcohol is still a problem for some adolescents. Road accidents represent the most immediate risk, but alcohol abuse can also trigger physical violence and other types of risk-taking such as unsafe sex.
Without tackling the problem of prevention head on, which is other organisations’ concern, the survey details the influence that peer group and the quality of family relationships can have. Some results may be surprising.

Second cross-sectional IREB survey - 2001
An interview with:
Marie Choquet, member of the Ireb’s scientific committee, research director, INSERM U 472
and Laure Com-Ruelle, member of the Ireb’s scientific committee, research director at the CREDES