The consumption of alcohol by adolescent schoolchildren: Differences in the triadic relationship pattern between rural and urban environments

Abstract

Objective Excessivealcoholconsumptioninadolescentsisoneofthemostsignificantpublichealth problemscurrentlyfacingsociety.Socialandgeographicalcontextscontributetothedevelopmentofalcohol-relatedbehaviorinadolescents.Theaimofthisresearchistoanalyze thesocialpatternrelatedtoalcoholconsumptioninadolescentsbasedontheirgeographical environment. Methodology Wedesignedadescriptivecross-sectionalstudybasedonsocialnetworkanalysis. Werecruited196highschoolstudentsbetween16and18yearsofagetoparticipate inthestudy.Themethodologyappliedwassocialnetworkanalysisbymeansoftransitivityandhomophilysocial triads.ThedatawereanalyzedusingSTATAstatistical software. Resultsandconclusions Atotalof58.48%ofruraladolescentsconsumedalcoholcomparedto49.52%ofurbanadolescents.Theseresultsdemonstratethatadolescentswholiveinruralareasexhibita greaterriskofdrinkingalcoholthanthosewholiveinurbanareas.Thepresenceoftransitive triadsincreasestheprobabilityofsharingsociodemographicattributesinsuchawaythatit maybeconsideredoneofthecausesofhomophily,contributingtoadolescentstaking greaterrisks,suchasconsumingalcohol.S