title: Decreases in adolescent weekly alcohol use in Europe and North America: evidence from 28 countries from 2002 to 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examined trends in adolescent weekly alcohol use between 2002 and 2010 in 28 European and North American countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyses were based on data from 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study in 2002, 2006 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Weekly alcohol use declined in 20 of 28 countries and in all geographic regions, from 12.1 to 6.1% in Anglo-Saxon countries, 11.4 to 7.8% in Western Europe, 9.3 to 4.1% in Northern Europe and 16.3 to 9.9% in Southern Europe. Even in Eastern Europe, where a stable trend was observed between 2002 and 2006, weekly alcohol use declined between 2006 and 2010 from 12.3 to 10.1%. The decline was evident in all gender and age subgroups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These consistent trends may be attributable to increased awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol for adolescent development and the implementation of associated prevention efforts, or changes in social norms and conditions. Although the declining trend was remarkably similar across countries, prevalence rates still differed considerably across countries.
authors: 1 Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands M.E.deLooze@uu.nl.
authors: Margaretha de
authors: Md
authors: Looze
authors: 2 Department of Pedagogical Sciences, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Quinten
authors: Q
authors: Raaijmakers
authors: 1 Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Tom Ter
authors: TT
authors: Bogt
authors: 3 Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, Syddansk Universitet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Pernille
authors: P
authors: Bendtsen
authors: 4 Prevention Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda/Rockville, MD, USA.
authors: Tilda
authors: T
authors: Farhat
authors: 5 Faculty of Human Kinetics, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Mafalda
authors: M
authors: Ferreira
authors: 6 Service Médical du Rectorat de Toulouse, UMR Inserm U1027-Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors: Emmanuelle
authors: E
authors: Godeau
authors: 7 Research Institute, Addiction Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland 8 Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
authors: Emmanuel
authors: E
authors: Kuntsche
authors: 9 Centre for Health Promotion, National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland.
authors: Michal
authors: M
authors: Molcho
authors: 10 Institute of Medical Sociology (IMS), Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
authors: Timo-Kolja
authors: TK
authors: Pförtner
authors: 4 Prevention Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda/Rockville, MD, USA.
authors: Bruce
authors: B
authors: Simons-Morton
authors: 11 Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors: Alessio
authors: A
authors: Vieno
authors: 1 Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Wilma
authors: W
authors: Vollebergh
authors: 12 Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston Ontario, Canada.
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Pickett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends*; D002648:Child; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology