Profiles associated with alcohol consumption in Colombian adolescents

Alcohol abuse in adolescents has several negative consequences on health, behavior and risk of becoming involved in problematic consumption at early ages. In this study a 24-item questionnaire was answered by 9,348 school adolescents of both sexes in nine Colombian cities. 7,625 students were included in this analysis due to their consumption of alcohol. The questions inquired about age of first intake, kind and amounts of alcohol consumed on each occasion, places and availability, presence of adults, alcohol use at school and attitudes toward legal restrictions, among others. A multiple correspondence analysis was carried out, generating four factors which were condensed later into two groups, and finally in four sub-groups based on categories of alcohol use: experimental, selective, regular and high, representing two categories: low and high use. The analysis produced identifiable profiles, quite different especially for two categories: the ‘low consumption’ group, that is younger, never drinks alone, does not attend parties where alcohol is offered to minors, has never drunk at school or during several days. In the ‘high consumption’ group are those over 16 years of age, who generally get drunk when they drink, have taken alcohol while at school and before arriving to school, have been in trouble because of alcohol and consider as inappropriate the legal restrictions to minors and the sanctions imposed to adults who sell or offer alcohol to minors.