Expectations towards alcohol consumption in school children between 8 and 12 years of age: a descriptive study

The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the consumption of alcoholic beverages at social gatherings is common in many parts of the world and can have negative health and social consequences. Early initiation of alcohol use is a major risk factor for the development of patterns of abusive consumption of alcohol.

To analyze the expectations towards alcohol consumption and to identify the age of onset of alcohol use in school children between 8 and 12 years of age.

The study was exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional. Data were collected from February to March, 2016, at the elementary schools Prof. Claudio Cortés Castro and Manuel Prieto Diaz in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco. The questionnaire of expectations towards alcohol for children was applied.

Sample size was 203 children. Twenty eight percent of children had consumed alcohol once in life; mean age of consumption onset was between 8 and 9 years old. Most frequently, the drink was beer, mostly provided by the father in places of family life. Among alcohol consumption expectations, dimensions scoring higher were aggressiveness and sociability and the dimension scoring lower was that of negative states.

With respect to expectations towards alcohol consumption, children think that consuming alcohol promotes aggressive behavior followed by swear words, disturbing other people and discussing with them. In contrast, there are situations produced by alcohol consumption that children fail to appreciate, such as sadness and shame.