Alcohol use among young adolescents in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria: The effects of type of education

The present study elucidates the association between students’ education type and alcohol use, controlling for other socio-economic background characteristics. A subsample of data from the second International Self-Reported Delinquency Study was used (N= 10,525), collected among adolescents in the seventh to ninth grades of secondary school in four Western European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria). Data were analysed with multilevel logistic regression techniques. There is an indication that type of education affects prevalence rates of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking; these effects prove robust for differences in socio-economic backgrounds. In all countries except Belgium, students in education types of lower status show higher prevalence rates for drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking. Lifetime alcohol prevalence rates do not vary much between students from different educational tracks. The results of this study support the literature regarding the role of the educational system in the reproduction of health inequalities and underscore the finding that students from education types of lower status are at greater risk than those from higher status types