Research

Alcohol intoxication and mental health among adolescents – a population review of 8983 young people, 13–19 years in North-Trøndelag, Norway: the Young-HUNT Study

Arve Strandheim^1,2,3*, Turid L Holmen^1,2, Lindsey Coombes⁴ and Niels Bentzen¹

• * Corresponding author: Arve Strandheim arve.strandheim@ntnu.no

Author Affiliations

¹ Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and General Practice, Trondheim, Norway

² Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and General Practice, HUNT research centre, Verdal, Norway

³ Nord-Trøndelag Health Trust, Sykehuset Levanger, Levanger, Norway

⁴ Oxford Brookes University, the School of Health and Social Care, Oxford, UK

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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009, 3:18 doi:10.1186/1753-2000-3-18

Published: 23 June 2009

Abstract

Background

The aims of this study were to describe alcohol use among Norwegian teenagers and investigate the associations between mental health problems and alcohol intoxications with focus on age and gender.

Methods

Population based, cross-sectional survey addressing all adolescents aged 13–19 years, attending secondary or high school in North – Trøndelag County, Norway. 8983 youths (91%) answered the Young-HUNT questionnaire in the 1995–1997 survey. Logistic regression models were used to study associations.

Results

80% of the respondents reported that they had tried drinking alcohol, and 57% had been intoxicated at least once. The proportion of the students, which had tried alcohol, was equal in both genders and increased with age. Attention problems and conduct problems were strongly associated with frequent alcohol intoxications in both genders. Anxiety and depressive symptoms among girls were also related to high numbers of intoxications

Conclusion

Gender differences in number of alcohol intoxications were small. There was a close association between both conduct and attention problems and high alcohol consumption in both genders. Girls with symptoms of anxiety and depression reported more frequent alcohol intoxications.