Cross-sectional study on parental pro-drinking practices and adolescent alcohol drinking in Hong Kong

Objectives: To investigate the association between parental pro-drinking practices (PPDPs) and alcohol drinking in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: 4 randomly selected secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Participants: 1738 students (mean age 14.6 years ± 2.0, boys 67.8%).

Main outcome measures: Drinking status, drinking intention and exposure to 9 PPDPs (eg, seeing parents drunk, helping parents buy alcohol, encouraged to drink by parents) were reported by students. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted ORs (AORs) of drinking and intention to drink by each PPDP and the number of PPDPs (0, 1-2, 3-4, 5 or above), adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, parental drinking and school clustering.

Results: Nearly half (48.6%) of the students were ever-drinkers, 16.2% drank monthly (at least once per month) and 40.3% intended to drink in the next 12 months. Most PPDPs were significantly associated with ever drinking (AORs 1.40-6.20), monthly drinking (AORs 1.12-8.20) and intention to drink (AORs 1.40-5.02). Both ever and monthly drinking were most strongly associated with parental training of drinking capacity (ability to drink more without getting drunk) with AORs of 6.20 and 8.20 (both p<0.001), respectively. Adolescent drinking intention was most strongly associated with parental encouragement of drinking and training of drinking capacity with AORs of 3.19 and 5.02 (both p<0.001), respectively.

Conclusions: Exposure to PPDPs was associated with ever drinking, monthly drinking and drinking intention in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. More studies, especially prospective studies, should be conducted to confirm these results, followed by interventional studies.