A critical relationship between adolescents and alcohol, not so much for the frequency, but for the ‘wild’ use: over 7 out of 10 kids have gotten drunk at least once, according to the first results of the national survey on the lifestyles of adolescents living in Italy, 2024 edition, carried out by Laboratorio adolescenza and Istituto di ricerca Iard, with the operational support of Mediatyche Srl, on a nationally representative sample of 3,427 students between 13 and 19 years old.
In general, less than 15% of males and a scant 10% of females drink alcohol several times a week, and 50% say they never drink alcohol. But among non-teetotallers, 75% have gotten drunk at least once, 32% of whom more than 3 times. And in the last 2 years of high school, the percentage of those who have gotten drunk more than 3 times rises to 45% and the percentage of those who have never gotten drunk drops to 11%. A sort of ‘obligatory passage’, therefore, where in 20% of cases the conditioning of friends is strong. Furthermore, the perception of adolescents is that drinking alcohol is much less harmful to health than smoking cigarettes and less harmful than that which can derive from a stressful life. When asked ‘how much do you agree that drinking alcohol can cause health problems?’, just over 30% responded ‘strongly agree’, while 40% responded with a more vague ‘somewhat agree’. Perhaps they are right to wish that schools would give them more specific information on this matter.
The alcohol emergency – says Gianluigi Marseglia, director of the Paediatric Clinic of the University of Pavia and member of the Board of Directors of Laboratorio adolescenza – is perhaps one of the biggest in adolescence today. Every Saturday night, just to cite a practical case, the Emergency Room of the Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia prepares for the night parade of adolescents and young adults with disorders related to alcohol abuse. Malaise, confusion, up to real intoxication and alcoholic coma. Sometimes it is the parents, but often it is other young people, friends, who accompany, scared, their drinking buddy to the emergency room”.
86% of young people use high-risk synthetic drugs, only 33.9% think so about alcohol
“But, beyond overcoming the critical moment, what the very young seem not to understand – the authors of the survey highlight – is the danger of alcohol not only in the immediate aftermath of drunkenness, but also in the medium and long term. Faced with this situation, the commitment of pediatricians and family doctors must be maximum to actively address the topic with their adolescent patients for prevention”.
“86% of the young people interviewed consider the use of synthetic drugs a high-risk factor for their health. The figure drops dramatically to 33.9% when alcohol is mentioned. According to the WHO – underlines Giada Giglio Moro, psychologist and psychotherapist from Milan – alcohol is classified as a drug, so there is a serious lack of information regarding the fact that alcohol is in all respects a drug. This difference in the perception of risk can be very dangerous and it is more necessary than ever to help young people question the reasons that lead them to use and abuse alcohol”.
Behind this choice “there is always an attempt to manage something, and alcohol intervenes as an apparent solution to these problems. So it would be appropriate – suggests the expert – to do prevention where the kids are, online and offline, that is, on digital channels and in schools, to help them find adaptive ways that respond effectively to what disturbs them inside, that help them in regulating their emotions, in their growth and development process, in order to promote their evolutionary need for exploration and not allow alcohol, like other substances, to put an end to their search for themselves”.
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