[Knowledge about alcohol and alcohol drinking habits in the 7th and 9th grades. A questionnaire study in the county...

A total of 4,044 pupils in the seventh and ninth grades in the County of Roskilde participated in a questionnaire investigation. Approximately 1/10 of the pupils in the seventh grade and approximately 1/3 in the ninth grade drank alcohol once a week or oftener. The majority misapprehension that their peers drank much more often than was indeed the case was striking: in the seventh grade a factor 4 and in the ninth grade a factor 2. In the ninth grade, 0.5% drank alcohol daily and 11.5% a couple of times a week. 3.3% in the ninth grade and 0.5% in the seventh grade took more than ten drinks a week. 34.5% in the ninth grade and 4.9% in the seventh grade drank three or more drinks per week. The number who felt excluded from the community if they did not drink varied from 0 to 20% from school to school. Teaching about alcohol is important. It is, however, also important that, despite stringent economy, efforts are made to capture young peoples interests in a healthy manner in their everyday life.