Consumo di sostanze alcoliche e vulnerabilità psicopatologica in adolescenza

Objectives. In recent years, many national and international studies have described an increase in alcohol consumption in adolescence, highlighting two worrying data: the low age at first contact with alcohol, and the diffusion of a new type of consumption, the binge-drinking, responsible for dramatic health consequences. Recent studies have also observed that adolescents who use alcohol have a high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity, particularly personality disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, self-injurious behaviour. The following study is part of the prevention project running in Padua since 2006 "What a pleasure ... ®" Health Education and Prevention of Alcohol Consumption in Early Adolescents , and it aims to evaluate the consumption of alcohol in students attending the first and second years of college and its possible association with psychopathological problems. Methods. Based on the voluntary participation of schools in the 2009-2010 edition of the project, a sample of 661 students has been selected and two questionnaires were given: the QAS (Questionnaire Adolescents Saturday) to detect the extent of alcohol consumption, and the YSR 11-18 (Youth Self Report 11-18) to find the presence of psychopathological vulnerabilities. Results. Our research confirmed the literature data, pointing out that 52.4% of adolescents consume alcoholic beverages on Saturday evening during the first two years of college. This consumption increases with age, it is greater in males, it is associated with attendance at bars and group contexts, it is related to a later hour returning home and to a greater availability of money. The consumption of alcohol in the young population is also associated with a greater presence of externalizing problems, especially conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. Conclusions. Our results confirm the need to implement prevention interventions based on research in order to strengthen the protective factors and to reduce the risk factors before the maladaptive condition will evolve and consolidate.