Drinking among young Europeans

Abstract: The Health Behaviour in School Children-aged (‎HBSC)‎ survey is carried out regularly in a large number of countries in WHO’s European Region. This document presents a review of the data on alcohol consumption obtained by this research project. It has been commissioned specially for the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Young People and Alcohol (‎Stockholm, 19 621 February 2001)‎. The survey data refer to various forms of alcohol consumption by young people (‎experimentation, regular use and excessive use)‎ and to the harm related to alcohol. The document includes a preliminary analysis of the trends identified. Alcohol consumption is not an isolated issue in people’s lives. The data on alcohol consumption are therefore related to such other factors as the family, the school and the availability of alcoholic beverages. This review concludes by addressing the question of what schools can do to limit the harm caused by alcohol. The concept of a health-promoting school is explained, and practical experience from the Health Promoting Schools project is described

Topic: Alcohol

Collection: WHO report

Copyright: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Editors: Wolfgang Settertobulte, Bjarne Bruun Jensen and Klaus Hurrelmann

Suggested citation: Settertobulte, W et al. (2001) Drinking among young Europeans WHO Policy Series: Health policy for children and adolescents. Issue 3, WHO Regional Office for Europe.