High alcohol use and misuse among a national sample of school adolescents in Benin in 2016

Abstract

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of alcohol use and misuse among adolescents in the 2016 Benin ‘Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS)’. In all, 2536 adolescents with a median age of 17 years (interquartile range = 3) from Benin responded to the 2015 cross-sectional GSHS. A nationally representative sample of students between the ages of 13 and 17 years was selected based on a two-stage (schools and classes) cluster sample design. Students responded to questions on sociodemographic factors, substance use, psychological distress, other health risk behaviour and protective factors. Almost half (44.1%) of the adolescents reported past-month alcohol use, 25.3% ever been drunk, and 15.0% past-month heavy alcohol use (≥two more drinks/day). In adjusted Poisson regression analysis, among both boys and/or girls, current tobacco use, multiple sexual partners, ‘ever cannabis use’, ‘ever amphetamine use’, school truancy, bullying victimization, soft drink consumption and lack of parental support were associated with alcohol use and/or misuse. A high prevalence of alcohol use and misuse was found and strategies to prevent alcohol misuse, including a number of risk behaviours, are needed.