Factors Affecting Problem Drinking Among Korean Adolescents Based on an Ecological Model

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting problem drinking among adolescents in Korea. Methods This survey involved 68,043 adolescents who participated in the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey conducted in 2015. The data were analyzed using the PASW Statistics 23.0 program. Results The subjects were aged 14.96 +/- 1.74 years (mean +/- standard deviation), including 52.1% male subjects and 53.0% high school students. Most of the drinkers started drinking during their middle school years (13,906 students, 51.6%). Among the 11,021 adolescent drinkers, 7,391 (67.1%) reported at least one of six behavioral problems related to drinking. Problem drinking behaviors involved (a) drinking alcohol to relieve stress; (b) drinking alcohol alone; (c) receiving advice from family or friends to reduce alcohol consumption; (d) driving a motorcycle or riding a bicycle after drinking alcohol, or riding on a motorcycle or a car with a drunk driver at the steering wheel; (e) memory loss after drinking alcohol; and (f) arguing with others after drinking alcohol. The overall problem-drinking score was 1.36 +/- 1.42 (range: 0-6). A regression model that included individual (5.7%), interpersonal (3.6%), social (0.3%), contextual (11.7%), and drinking (6.6%) behaviors as predictors accounted for 27.9% of the variance in problem drinking (WaldF= 70.10,p< .001). Conclusion The drinking levels as well as method and ease of alcohol purchase were the most significant variables predicting problem drinking by adolescents in Korea.