[Results of 10-year cohort study on Japanese adolescent drinking]

This article reports the first longitudinal cohort study on Japanese adolescent alcohol use and abuse from 1997 to 2007. The purpose of the cohort study is to show that factors which promote adolescent problem drinking, will develop into the early alcohol dependence syndrome. A total of 802 subjects with a mean age 13.5 years old was recruited from four junior high schools in Kanagawa prefecture. The survey was conducted annually by mail using self-reported questionnaires concerning drinking status and alcohol-related problems. In the 2007 survey at 10 years after the first survey, the respondents numbered 493 with a mean age of 23.8 years old, and the follow-up rate was 61.5%. In the 2007 survey, 25.2% of male and 14.3% of female subjects were found to be problem drinkers from the scores of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). We divided the subjects into two groups according to the AUDIT scores, problem drinkers and non-problem drinkers. The two groups were compared concerning family relationships, first drinking age and drinking status of parents with the respons- es of the 1997 survey. A multiple regression analysis was performed to determine problem drink promoting factors. The factors determined were fathers with moderate to heavy drinking in male subjects and having drinking experiences at 13.5 years old at the start of the survey in female subjects. Furthermore, we confirmed a continuity of problem drinking from adolescents to young adults. Problem drinkers in the 2002 survey had significantly increased in the 2007 survey when compared with non-problem drinkers in the 2002 survey. We concluded that first drinking in junior high school and having moderate to heavy drinking fathers promote adult problem drinking, and problem drinking continued from adolescents to young adults.