FACTORS RELATED TO ALCOHOL DRINKING AMONG THE ADOLESCENTS IN FEDERAL TERRITORY, KUALA LUMPUR

Abstract

Misuse of alcohol among adolescents, particularly school children has become one of the public health concerns in Malaysia due to its serious effects and an increased risk of alcohol-related injuries, especially motor vehicle injuries. This is the most common type of youthful fatal injury in Malaysia. However, the availability of data on the extent of alcohol abuse particularly among school children in this country is limited. Therefore, we conducted this study with the objectives of identifying the prevalence of alcohol drinking among school children in Kuala Lumpur, factors related to alcohol drinking among the adolescents and to assess health status of their parents through the presence of any related alcohol diseases and the habits of alcohol drinking among their parents. In this baseline study a two stage stratified sampling design was used to recruit 8532 eligible students from the selected secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur. The prevalence of alcohol drinking was 9.0% (771 / 8532). Significant factors identified related to alcohol consumption were alcoholic father (OR=1.29), alcoholic mother (1.55); elder siblings consume alcohol (2.49) and the Chinese ethnic group (1.55). The study revealed that factors which significantly contributed to the habit of alcohol drinking were related to whether their parents consumed alcohol or not or either their elder siblings were also taking alcohol. Therefore, the results from this study could be used as a baseline data to describe the level of alcohol consumption among adolescents particularly school children. Effective public health interventions that focus on the familial context of adolescents' drinking habits may be developed.