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Difficult childhoods can lead to teenage drinking, African study finds

Date:
July 5, 2010
Source:
BioMed Central
Summary:
An African study has found a link between a difficult childhood and alcohol consumption as a teenager. Researchers studied the association between adverse childhood experiences and drunkenness among 9,189 adolescents aged 12-19 years living in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda.
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An African study has found a link between a difficult childhood and alcohol consumption as a teenager.

Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health studied the association between adverse childhood experiences and drunkenness among 9,189 adolescents aged 12-19 years living in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda.

Dr. Caroline Kabiru and a team of researcher from the African Population and Health Research Center , Nairobi, Kenya conducted the study. They noted, "Overall, 9% of adolescents reported that they had been drunk in the 12 months preceding the survey. In general, respondents who had lived in a food-insecure household, lived with a problem drinker, been physically abused, or been coerced into having sex were more likely to report drunkenness."

There has previously been little research into the determinants of alcohol use among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. The researchers' work is supported by similar studies in other parts of the world, which also draw a link between adverse childhood experiences and future drinking. Speaking about the findings, Dr. Kabiru said, "Early treatment for traumatic childhood experiences may be an essential component of interventions designed to prevent alcohol abuse among adolescents."


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Materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Caroline W Kabiru, Donatien Beguy, Joanna Crichton and Alex C Ezeh. Self-reported drunkenness among adolescents in four sub-Saharan African countries: associations with adverse childhood experiences. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2010; 4: 17 DOI: 10.1186/1753-2000-4-17

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BioMed Central. "Difficult childhoods can lead to teenage drinking, African study finds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 July 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100705073922.htm>.
BioMed Central. (2010, July 5). Difficult childhoods can lead to teenage drinking, African study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100705073922.htm
BioMed Central. "Difficult childhoods can lead to teenage drinking, African study finds." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100705073922.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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