Patterns of alcohol use among Warsaw adolescents across 20 years-from 1988 to 2008

Aim: The study investigates patterns of alcohol drinking among 15-year-old Polish students in Warsaw over the past 20 years. Methods: Data were collected from six consecutive surveys, beginning in 1988 (N = 3918) and conducted every four years (in 2008, N = 1229). Results: Two-step cluster analysis across all six consecutive surveys indicated a clear differentiation of the social context of adolescent alcohol drinking patterns. Adolescents are least likely to drink alcohol alone (< 5%) or heavily with peers (< 10%), more likely to drink with parents (15%-20%), in moderate amounts with peers (11%-28%) or not at all (11%-27%), and most likely to be light social drinkers (30%-46%). Cross-gender comparisons suggest that traditional gender differences are fading away; the data show increases in moderate social drinking among females and abstinence among males. Conclusions: Our results confirm that adolescents' patterns of alcohol use are stable over time, despite the social and political changes that have occurred in Poland since 1988, and reflect a pattern of mostly moderate drinking.