[Alcohol consumption among students of the autonomous community of Extremadura]. / Consumo de alcohol en escolares de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura.

OBJECTIVES: To find the number of drinkers, the relationship of their environment to the habit and attitudes to alcohol of Estremaduran children in the eighth year of EGB/second of ESO. DESIGN: Crossover descriptive study of a representative sample of the students in these school years. SETTING: All the schools in our autonomous community. PARTICIPANTS: 996 students belonging to various educational establishments. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We used a self-filled questionnaire with questions on the alcohol consumption of those being surveyed and their parents, siblings, friends and teachers. Other variables such as age, sex, parents' educational qualifications and other questions touching on the attitude to alcohol were included too. The subjects were 13-14 years old (54% boys and 46% girls). 15.50% were habitual drinkers and 54.43% occasional drinkers, with the number of boys predominating in the two groups (72.72 against 27.27% and 54.07 against 45.93%, respectively). Consumption was clearly higher in the father, siblings and friends of habitual drinkers (p < 0.05, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Parents of non-drinkers had higher educational qualifications. Habitual drinkers, and to a lesser degree occasional drinkers, displayed favourable attitudes to consumption and a positive association with alcohol consumption. CONCLUSION: Given their age, the percentage of drinkers is worrying and is linked to the presence of the habit in their closest social environment. The positive attitudes to alcohol consumption of our school students justify the introduction of prevention programmes.

Consumo de alcohol en escolares de la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura / Alcohol consumption by school-children in the autonomous community of Estremadura

Objetivos. Conocer la proporción de bebedores, la relación del entorno con el hábito y las actitudes hacia el alcohol en los escolares extremeños de 8.º EGB/2.º ESO. Diseño. Estudio descriptivo transversal de una muestra representativa de los alumnos de dichos cursos. Emplazamiento. Todos los colegios de nuestra comunidad autónoma. Participantes. Novecientos noventa y seis alumnos pertenecientes a diversos centros educativos. Mediciones y resultados principales. Utilizamos un cuestionario autoadministrado con preguntas sobre el consumo de alcohol en los encuestados, en sus padres, hermanos, amigos y profesores. También se incluyen otras variables, caso de edad, sexo, nivel educativo de los padres y otras preguntas referentes a la actitud hacia el alcohol. La edad de los encuestados es de 13-14 años (54 por ciento varones y 46 por ciento mujeres). Un 15,50 por ciento es bebedor habitual y el 54,43 por ciento bebedor ocasional; en ambos grupos es superior la proporción de varones (72,72 frente a 27,27 por ciento y 54,07 frente a 45,93 por ciento, respectivamente). La presencia del hábito es claramente superior en el padre, hermanos y amigos de los bebedores habituales (p < 0,05, < 0,001 y < 0,001, respectivamente). Los padres de los no bebedores presentan niveles educativos superiores. Los bebedores habituales, y en menor medida los ocasionales, muestran actitudes favorables al consumo y una asociación positiva con la ingesta de alcohol. Conclusiones. Considerando la edad, nuestra proporción de bebedores es preocupante y se asocia a la presencia del hábito en el entorno social más próximo. Las actitudes favorables hacia el consumo en nuestros escolares justifican la introducción de programas de prevención (AU)

[Tobacco consumption in school-children from the autonomous community of Extremadura]. / Consumo de tabaco en escolares de la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura.

OBJECTIVES: To find the number of smokers among school-children in Extremadura in the eighth year of EGB/second of ESO, the relationship of their environment with the acquisition of the habit and their attitudes towards tobacco. DESIGN: Crossover study of a representative sample of the students doing these courses. SETTING: All the schools in our autonomous community. PARTICIPANTS: 1062 students from various schools. MEASUREMENTS: We used a self-administered questionnaire with questions on the tobacco consumption of the interviewees, their parents, siblings, friends and teachers. The study included other variables, such as age, sex, alcohol consumption, parents' educational qualifications and other questions pertinent to attitudes to tobacco. RESULTS: The age of those surveyed was 13-14 (54% boys), of whom 18.27% were habitual smokers (95% CI, 15.95-20.59). Tobacco consumption was higher in boys (20.48% against 15.24% in girls; p = 0.05). The habit is clearly higher in friends, siblings, fathers and mothers of smokers (p < 0.001; < 0.001; < 0.001, and < 0.01, respectively), but not in teachers. Parents of non-smokers had higher educational qualifications. Smokers showed favourable attitudes towards consumption and a positive association with alcohol intake. CONCLUSIONS: Given their age, the number of smokers is high and is associated with the presence of the habit in their most immediate social environment. Attitudes in our school-children which favour consumption justify the introduction of prevention programmes.