Parental supervision and alcohol use among Brazilian adolescents: analysis of data from National School-based Health Survey 2015.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relation between parental supervision and sociodemographic factors and alcohol use by Brazilian adolescents.

METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study with data from National School-based Health Survey (PeNSE) 2015, which included 16,608 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, students from Brazilian public and private schools. Variables related to alcohol use, sociodemographic factors and parental supervision were evaluated. In order to analyze the relation between sociodemographic variables, parental supervision and use of alcohol among adolescents, prevalence ratios stratified by sex were used.

RESULTS: It was observed that 61.4% of the adolescents had tried alcohol, 27.2% had a drunken episode in their lifetime, 9.3% have had problems with alcohol and 29.3% reported alcohol use in last 30 days. The lack of parental supervision was associated with increased use of alcohol. The proportion of alcohol use was higher for girls, and also among those who were older than 16 years, worked, did not live with one or both parents, and lived in the South, regardless of sex.

CONCLUSION: The results showed early alcohol experimentation and occurrence of problems due to its use among Brazilian adolescents. In addition, the lack of monitoring by parents and guardians shows a risk of alcohol use in this age.