Trends in Alcohol Use by Students
What are the facts? Have trends changed in recent years? Does Binge drinking really exist? At what age is alcohol first used? As a parent, what should I recognize?
Alcohol remained the most reported common drug used by adolescents in the Cayman Islands according to the Student Drug Use Surveys of 2012 a survey carried out on middle and high school students in the Cayman Islands.
Cayman Islands Student Drug Use Survey 2012 indicates;
- About six of every ten students (60.6%) reported that they had an alcoholic beverage at some time in their life.
- A quarter of students (25.8%) reported drinking alcohol only on social events
- Almost a quarter of students (22.8%) used alcohol for the first time at some point during the year prior to the survey.
- The mean age of first use overall for alcoholic beverages was 12 years of age.
- Not many students felt that drinking alcoholic beverages ‘sometimes’ was very harmful.
- Of those students that use alcohol, 19.5% reported getting it from friends while a high proportion (18.0%), reported drinking at other social events.
- The majority (58.9%) of students reported that it was ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to obtain alcohol.
- Overall, 16.0% of students indicated binge drinking (14.8% of males and 16.8% of females).
- About one of every six students (14.7%) reported that they were introduced to alcohol by a friend.
Students were also asked how they usually get their alcohol. Of those who drank alcohol, about 19.5% reported they got it from friends, 13.0% got it from parents, 9.4% got it from other relatives, 8.1% by “other” ways, 7.4% from buying it in the shop, 5.0% from brother/sister, and the remaining 1.4% obtained it from street dealers.
Are these findings relevant?
The CISDUS employs a complete census of students enrolled in grades 7 to 12. In 2012, 2,928 students in all private and public schools were asked to complete anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. The CISDUS report primarily emphasizes the prevalence of substance use, i.e., the percentage of students who report using a given drug during the 12 months before the survey. It is important to note that prevalence does not imply regular, frequent or problematic use, but it is an important first-order epidemiological indicator of the size of the population that has at minimum, tried a substance.
What should I recognize as a parent?
- What are the indicators parents should look for?
- Does gender, race, grade, ethnicity play a part in alcohol use?
- How can parents get informed?
National Drug facts week (NDFW) is a health observance week for teens that aims to shatter the myths about drugs and drug abuse. Through community based-events and activities NDC works along with its partners to encourage teens to get factual answers from scientific experts about drugs and drug abuse.
The survey indicated that about 60.6% of all students surveyed reported lifetime use which did not significantly vary by gender (59.3% of males vs. 62.4% of females); however, females are reported more likely to use alcohol. The survey further indicates more than half (53%) of all students reported no substance abuse at all in 2012.