ISSN: 2376-0419
Maharjan PL and Magar KT
Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth. Also, early initiation of alcohol use (before 14 years of age) is a predictor of impaired health status. A cross-sectional descriptive study using a modified standard questionnaire was conducted among 250 youth of Suryabinayak Municipality, Bhaktapur. Data was objectively analyzed in SPSS full version 23. Overall, 56% of youth reported current drinking, with male (37.6%) outnumbering female (18.4%). 32.8% of youth were lifetime abstainers while 73.6% of current drinkers were found to drink in the past 30 days. The mean age of initiating drinking alcohol was found to be 17 years. 61.9% were introduced into the alcohol by their friends. Almost half of the respondents (44.7%) drink beer. Female usually drink jaad/chyang, beer and wine whereas male usually drink jaad/chyang, beer, distillery products and mix. Among those who drink in past 30 days, 49.5% reported binge drinking (male 47.6%, female 1.9%). Association of alcohol consumption was found to be highly significant with age group, gender, ethnicity, family history of alcohol use and friend‘s history (p ≤ 0.0001 at CI 95%). Effective intervention strategies addressing the underage drinking need a great focus from community level to center level to prevent underage alcohol consumption.