Threefold Surge in Male Teenage Drinking In India: Study
NEW YORK: Revealing an alarming trend, a team led by an Indian-origin researcher has reported a threefold surge in the number of male teenagers drinking alcohol in India, especially in urban cities and poorer households.
"The proportion of men who started drinking in their teenage rose from 19.5 percent for those born between 1956 and 1960 to 74.3 percent for those born between 1981-85 - a more than threefold rise," said lead researcher Aravind Pillai from Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
Those living in urban areas and poorer households are more likely to start drinking at an early age, the findings showed.
To reach this conclusion, the team questioned 2,000 randomly selected 20-49 year old men from rural and urban areas in northern Goa.
They were asked to reveal the age at which they first started to drink alcohol, how much they drank, and whether they had sustained any injuries as a result of their drinking.
Levels of psychological distress were also assessed using a validated questionnaire (GHQ).
"Teenage drinkers were more than twice as likely to be distressed and alcohol dependent as those who did not start drinking early in life," researchers added.
