Psycho-emotional determinants of binge drinking among 15-year-old adolescents in Latvia

Introduction.– Adolescence is a time when youngsters start engaging in binge drinking, a high-risk behaviour that is linked to a
number of negative health outcomes, high persistence rate and risk
of alcohol addiction in adulthood.
Objectives.– To examine the relationship between individual and
environmental psycho-emotional risk factors and binge drinking
in a representative sample of 15-year-old adolescents in Latvia.
Methods.– The study was conducted using data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study year
2013/2014 Latvian database. Statistical modelling was performed
to explore the link between binge drinking and a number of sociodemographic and psycho-emotional risk factors.
Results.– The sample consisted of 1674 15-year-old 9th grade
students. Only 399 (23,8%) students reported never having used
alcohol, and 181 (10,8%) students reported drinking more than 5
standard drinks (binge-drinking) in an episode of alcohol use during last month. Boys were 1.82 (CI 1.25–2.67) times more likely to
binge drink then girls. Adolescents with low self-perceived family
support were 1.81 (CI 1.19–2.75) times more likely to binge drink.
Adolescents with good self-perceived peer relationships were 1.59
(CI 1.05–2.39) times more likely to binge drink. The odds of binge
drinking in the study population did not statistically significantly
depend on ethnicity, family income level, self-reported health status, quality of life or school-related factors.
Conclusions.– The rate of binge drinking among Latvian 15-yearolds is significant, with as much as 10,8% admitting to binge drink during last month. Male gender, low self-perceived family support
and good self-perceived peer support appear to be important risk
factors.
Disclosure of interest.– The authors have not supplied a conflict of
interest statement.