OECD Education Working Papers

ISSN :
1993-9019 (online)
DOI :
10.1787/19939019
Hide / Show Abstract
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies drawing on the work of the OECD Directorate for Education. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language (English or French) with a short summary available in the other.
 

Education, Alcohol Use and Abuse Among Young Adults in Britain You or your institution have access to this content

Authors:
Maria del Carmen Huerta1, Francesca Borgonovi1
Author Affiliations
  • 1: OECD, France

Publication Date
01 July 2010
Bibliographic information
No.:
50
Pages
33
DOI
10.1787/5kmbqvsh57g0-en

Hide / Show Abstract

In this article we explore the relationship between education and alcohol consumption. We examine whether the probability of abusing alcohol differs across educational groups. We use data from the British Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of one week’s birth in Britain in 1970. Measures of alcohol abuse include alcohol consumption above NHS guidelines, daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking. Higher educational attainment is associated with increased odds of daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking. The relationship is stronger for females than males. Individuals who achieved high test scores in childhood are at a significantly higher risk of abusing alcohol across all dimensions. Our results also suggest that educational qualifications and academic performance are associated with the probability of belonging to different typologies of alcohol consumers among women while this association is not present in the case of educational qualifications and is very weak in the case of academic performance among males.