Drunkenness-related alcoholic beverage choices among adolescents

The aim was to find out the preferred alcoholic beverages of 12 to 18 year-olds and to explore the relationships between beverage preferences and heavy drinking. The data for the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey ( n = 8219) was collected among Finns aged 12, 14, 16 and 18 years by mail in 1999. The instrument included a four-item scale on subjective perceptions of drunkenness on the latest drinking occasion, and on the qualities and quantities of alcohol consumed. Alcohol use among the 12 year-olds was rare; they preferred wine. The favourites among 14 to 18 year-olds, who reported having been sober or only slightly drunk, were beer and cider. Adolescents who reported having been 'really drunk' often combined these low-alcohol beverages with spirits. However, even in this group the three low-alcohol beverages (beer, cider, long drinks) together accounted for 60% of total ethanol consumption, most of which the boys drank in beer and girls in cider or beer. While spirits were associated with drunkenness among adolescents, low-alcohol beverages, beer in particular, also appeared to show a significant association with heavy drinking. The alcohol policy assumption that low-alcohol beverages are less harmful than spirits should be abandoned and health promotion efforts adjusted accordingly.