Adolescent alcohol use and alcohol use disorders in Mexico City

To estimate the prevalence, sex, age distribution, and socio-demographic correlates of any alcohol use, consumption patterns, and any alcohol use disorder in a representative sample of Mexican adolescents.

3005 youth (52.1% female) aged 12-17 from a stratified multistage area probability sample were representative of adolescents residing in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Alcohol use and disorder and their socio-demographic correlates were evaluated with the World Mental Health adolescent version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Data were post-stratified to the total Mexico City adolescent population.

59% has used alcohol, this proportion increasing significantly with age. By age 17, 82.5% has used alcohol. Consumption patterns are mostly of low/moderate quantity or infrequent high quantity. Lifetime DSM-IV alcohol use disorder criteria are met by 3.8%, reaching 8.1% for 16-17 years-olds. While males have greater frequency and quantity of drinking, there are no gender differences for alcohol use disorders. Non-school attending youth have twice the odds of a lifetime (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.13-3.53) and 12-month disorder (OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.10-4.15). Low parental monitoring is associated with 1.72 times the odds of a lifetime disorder (95% CI=1.10-2.68).

Over a third of 12 year-olds had ever drunk an alcoholic beverage in their lifetime suggesting that the prevention of alcohol use and disorders must begin in late childhood. Initiatives to foment parental monitoring and to prevent, identify, and treat alcohol use problems in non-school attending youth in particular should be a priority for the wellbeing of Mexico City adolescents.