ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AMONG TEENAGERS 3/3 Alcohol is the most widely consumed substance among students aged 14-18. Three out of four young people (in that age group) had ever tried it, almost as many had consumed it in the past 12 months and more than 60% in the past 30 days. The average age of starting consumption is between 13 and 14 years old. Although consumption has maintained a stable trend in recent years, intensive consumption (drunkenness or alcohol poisoning and binge drinking) has increased in Spain. Almost 2 out of 5 adolescents declare that they have been drunk at some time in the last 30 days, emphasising that the prevalence of binge drinking is slightly higher in girls than in boys. Four out of six students aged 14-18 years admitted having consumed five or more drinks in an interval of approximately 2 hours (binge drinking) in the last 30 days, this situation being more frequent among boys than girls.

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AMONG TEENAGERS 2/3 The lack of psychological maturity, typical of adolescence, makes it difficult to manage many sensations and effects produced by alcohol consumption. It reduces the attention, capacity and reaction time and makes it difficult to make decisions. It produces violent attitudes, aggressions, changes in family relationships, with friends, teachers and classmates, trouble with studies, facilitates risky behaviors such as the use of vehicles, as a driver or passenger, after having drunk alcohol or unsecure sexual relations that cause unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The motivation that moves teenages and young people to consume alcohol goes from the search of the psychoactive effects of alcohol, to perceive that the consumption of alcohol improves the relations with the others, it serves as evasion, it is "useful" in the celebrations and moments of party, to integrate itself in the group of equals, and to show "that one is an adult". It has extended the habit of drinking in "binge drinking", intense consumption of alcohol that is realized in a short period of time, basically located at the weekend. Of the 58.5% who had consumed alcoholic in the last 30 days, almost all (99.8%) had drunk at weekends, while only 39.3% had done so on working days. In terms of frequency, 23% of the students had drunk every weekend.

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AMONG TEENAGERS 2/3 The lack of psychological maturity, typical of adolescence, makes it difficult to manage many sensations and effects produced by alcohol consumption. It reduces the attention, capacity and reaction time and makes it difficult to make decisions. It produces violent attitudes, aggressions, changes in family relationships, with friends, teachers and classmates, trouble with studies, facilitates risky behaviors such as the use of vehicles, as a driver or passenger, after having drunk alcohol or unsecure sexual relations that cause unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The motivation that moves teenages and young people to consume alcohol goes from the search of the psychoactive effects of alcohol, to perceive that the consumption of alcohol improves the relations with the others, it serves as evasion, it is "useful" in the celebrations and moments of party, to integrate itself in the group of equals, and to show "that one is an adult". It has extended the habit of drinking in "binge drinking", intense consumption of alcohol that is realized in a short period of time, basically located at the weekend. Of the 58.5% who had consumed alcoholic in the last 30 days, almost all (99.8%) had drunk at weekends, while only 39.3% had done so on working days. In terms of frequency, 23% of the students had drunk every weekend.