Investigating Drinking Profiles among Italian High School Students (14-19 y.o.): a Latent Class Analysis

Introduction. Underage drinking in Italy is frequent and often associated with a relatively low alcohol related harm. This study investigates how drinkers differ from never drinkers and how juvenile drinking progresses into occasional or heavy drinking in dependence of various contextual factors including family, friends, age at alcohol initiation, coping habits, other substance use and rules regarding drinking. Methods. A sample of 9564 upper secondary schools students (14-19 y.o.), was interviewed in spring 2017-18. Individuals tolerant attitude towards alcohol it remains debatable whether a normalization process in alcohol use is catching on among young consumers.who never drank (16.87%) and last year drinkers were analysed with a logistic regression to check for the role of demographic and social covariates. Then a latent class regression model was fitted on last year drinkers, using again the covariates to predict the probability of being assigned to a class for an individual. Results. The regression confirmed the role of some factors in separating drinkers from non-drinkers: gender, increased age, drinking peers, sensation seeking and other drugs among others. The latent class assigns probabilistically individuals who are drinkers to a drinking profile. A threefold model emerges: 1) unproblematic infrequent drinkers (37.17%); 2) ordinary drinkers with low to null abuse occasions (33.30%); 3) frequent and abusive drinkers (12.66%). Conclusion. Students have occasions to drink and this progress with age. Being a female delays heavy drinking while drinking friends and smoking make it more likely. In a context like the Italian one with a with a tolerant attitude towards alcohol it remains debatable whether a normalization process in alcohol use is catching on among young consumers.