Athletics, Stress Linked to Teen Alcohol, Drug Use

Family Practice News, April 15, 2000 by Kate Johnson

TORONTO -- Taking part in school athletics puts teenagers at higher risk for becoming drinkers, and experiencing high levels of daily stress puts them at risk for developing an alcohol-related problem, a study has found.

Teenagers who report weight concerns and dieting also have an increased risk of drinking.

In contrast, involvement in other student activities, such as drama or choir, reduces a teenager's risk of trying marijuana.

"We know quite a lot about alcohol and marijuana use among teenagers, but not much about what predicts that use," said Beth Lewis, who presented the data in a poster at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.

She said the information is useful for developing programs specifically targeting different risk groups.

Ms. Lewis, a clinical psychology graduate student at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, and her colleagues defined an alcohol-related problem as drinking that caused problems with parents, teachers, friends, or the law.

They were surprised to find that girls were more likely to report these problems than boys, even though boys were more likely to report using alcohol.

"It could be that parents and teachers would label drinking as more of a problem in girls, whereas they might be more tolerant of it in boys," she suggested.

The investigators surveyed 351 teenagers (191 girls and 160 boys) in grades 8-11 once in 1997 and again a year later to determine the influences that affected their alcohol and marijuana use.

Among teenagers who were already drinking, being in a higher grade, experiencing higher daily hassles, drinking larger amounts of alcohol, and female gender predicted alcohol-related problems 1 year later, Ms. Lewis reported.

Participating in athletics, being in a higher grade, having weight concerns, and male gender predicted becoming an alcohol user in the next year.

Drinking larger amounts of alcohol, nor participating in organized school groups, and male gender predicted becoming a marijuana user in the next year.