ALCOHOL INTAKE AND ASSOCIATED VARIABLES AMONG MEXICAN STUDENTS

The National Survey of Drug Use in the School Community is the third investigation at a national level that was under taken by the Mexican Institute of Psychiatry and the Ministry of Public Education in 1991 among high school students. The objectives of the survey were: To give a current view of the prevalence of drug use in this population, of the more used drugs, the associated problems and the affected subgroups. Selected representative samples from each of the 32 states of Mexico, were investigated. The samples were obtained from the archives of the Ministry of Public Education on students from urban and rural schools. The final sample has 61,779 subjects. This article presents results about the most consumed drug by the students: Alcohol, and its related variables, comparing the entities with higher ciphers with the national average. Among the most relevant findings are: The states that have statistically higher percentages in comparison with the national average are Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Distrito Federal. The lower statistically percentages in relation to the national ciphers were found in the states of Oaxaca, Tabasco, Guerrero and Puebla. The number of students that consumed alcohol in the previous year to the survey is very high in comparison with that of tobbaco users and specially to the number of those who have tried marihuana, amphetamines, inhalants and tranquilizers. In the states with higher ciphers of intake, between 1.4 % and 1.7 % of the students drank 10 timed as much or more in the month previous to the study; boys drink more frequently and higher amounts of alcohol than girls, specially those from Baja California and Chihuahua; 6 or 7 % of the boys 100 have 5 or more drinks at one time one or two times a week, in comparison with 1 or 2 % of the girls. Sixteen year old boys and older drink more than younger boys. Thus a higher number of older boys have 5 or more drinks at a time or get drunk more often than youngsters. In these states around half of the students reported having friends who drink alcoholic beverages, and more than a third of them get drunk once a week. Women perceived as more risky to drink alcohol than men. They were questioned regarding 4 problems related to alcohol consumption. They considered that the most important problem for them was their desire to less, and in second place, having to see a doctor or a counselor, or having been in a hospital due to their alcohol intake.