Study: Consuming alcohol less frequent among high schoolers than four years prior
Fresh results from a study conducted in 2015 indicate that while in 2011, 95 percent of high schoolers aged 15-16 had consumed alcohol at least once in their lives, this figure had dropped by ten percent over the following four years.
A comparative study on alcohol and drug use among 15- and 16-year-old students has been conducted in Estonian- and Russian-language schools every four years since 1995, reported ERR’s radio news. Last year, approximately 2,500 young Estonians participated in the latest edition of the study.
Referring to the results of the most recent results, National Institute for Health Development (NIHD) junior researcher Maris Salekešin said that compared to 2011, Estonian youth consumed less alcohol overall, consumed less alcohol in one sitting and became intoxicated less often in 2015. Likewise to decrease was the frequency of alcohol consumption.
"While survey results from 2011 indicated that 85 percent of students had consumed alcohol during the past year, the same indicator for 2015 was 71 percent," said Salekešin, adding that the number of students to indicate they had consumed alcohol during the previous month fell from 59 percent in 2011 to 38 percent in 2015.
Also highlighted by survey results was the fact that more than half of respondents considered it fairly or very easy to get ahold of alcohol in Estonia; the most common sources of alcohol were friends and parents.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
