Patterns of Alcohol Access Among Brazilian Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

Adolescents’ access to alcohol has been associated with a higher risk of harmful use in the future. In this study, we aimed to identify latent class patterns of how Brazilian adolescents access alcohol, including parental supply, friends supply, other person supply, home access, and purchase. We examined the prospective association between these access methods and alcohol-related harms and binge drinking over 9 months of follow-up. We leveraged data via anonymous questionnaires at baseline and 9 months of follow-up from 1149 8th-grade students (mean age 13.4 years, 56.83% girls) across 37 public schools in three Brazilian cities, allocated to the control arm of the #Tamojunto 2.0 program. Four classes of access to alcohol emerged: (1) “low access to alcohol” (67%), (2) “friend supply only” (16%), (3) “purchase only” (14%), and (4) “high access to alcohol” (3%). Adolescents with low access to alcohol were less likely to engage in other access methods. Friends were the main source of alcohol. The more sources of access, the greater the alcohol-related harms. Policies and interventions should focus on targeted prevention programs that address common alcohol access methods among adolescents.