Relative deprivation and episodes of drunkenness among French and Canadian adolescents

Abstract

Introduction and aims: Studies link socio-economic deprivation to alcohol consumption in adolescents, but the role of relative deprivation has been understudied and may be equally important. This study investigates the association between relative deprivation and episodes of drunkenness among adolescents in France and Canada.

Design and methods: We used data from the 2014 Health Behaviours in School-aged Children study collected from 15-year-olds in Canada (n = 4276) and France (n = 1625). Students reported the number of times they had ever been drunk. The degree of relative deprivation was quantified through the student's rank in the deprivation distribution, measured through the Family Affluence Scale, within school and the extent of the inequality. Random intercept logistic regression models were used to examine the association between relative deprivation and drunkenness.

Results: Canadian adolescents were more likely to have experienced drunkenness more than once in their lifetime compared with French adolescents (21.6% vs. 16.2%). Adolescents with high relative deprivation were not more likely to report episodes of drunkenness in Canada and were less likely to report episodes of drunkenness in France compared with those with low relative deprivation.

Discussion and conclusions: Our findings do not support the hypothesis that adolescents who experienced greater relative deprivation are more likely to report drunkenness. They suggest that policies and interventions on alcohol use should target adolescents across all levels of deprivation in Canada and particularly those that are relatively more affluent in France. The context of countries appears to matter to the socio-economic distribution of drinking behaviour in youth. [Sentenac M, Ehlinger V, Napoletano A, Spilka S, Gariepy G, Godeau E, Elgar FJ. Relative deprivation and episodes of drunkenness among French and Canadian adolescents.

Keywords: Canada; France; adolescent; alcohol; deprivation.