title: Cumulative risk factors for adolescent alcohol misuse and its perceived consequences among 16 to 20 year old adolescents in Switzerland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the cumulative impact of environmental and individual factors associated with adolescent alcohol misuse and their correlation with self-reported consequences of drinking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional school-based survey of a nationally representative sample of 7548 post-mandatory school students and apprentices aged 16-20 years, Switzerland 2002. Alcohol misuse defined by frequency of alcohol use, episodes of drunkenness and driving while drunk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen significant risk factors were identified among both boys, and girls. An individual score of cumulated risk factors was created by adding the risk factors. The association between the score and the likelihood of being engaged in alcohol misuse was highly significant and dose-dependent (p<.001). A significant proportion of adolescents report perceived adverse consequences of their alcohol consumption. A linear trend (p<.001) was found between the score of risk factors and the proportion of respondents reporting problems related to drinking such as diminished school performance, physical hazard, relational problems and current risky sexual behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Risk factors for adolescent alcohol misuse are cumulative and can be synthesized into an individual score correlated with the likeliness of misuse. A further indication of the validity of this score is its linear relationship with self-reported problems related to drinking.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche sur la santé des adolescents et Unité multidisciplinaire de santé des adolescents, Institut universitaire de médecine sociale & préventive, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zufferey
authors.forename: Pierre-André
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Michaud
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jeannin
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berchtold
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chossis
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Melle
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carles Suris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology