Structured leisure and activities with parents reduce the risk of alcohol consumption among adolescents. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from the University of Navarra and the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). They interviewed 4,608 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 in Spain, Peru and the Netherlands.

The main author of article is Aranzazu Albertos, professor of the School of Education and Psychology and collaborator of the group "Education of affectivity and human sexuality" (EASH) of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), which is part of the Institute of research Sanitaria de Navarra (idiSNA). It is also signed by Ina Koning, from the University of Utrecht; Edgar Benítez, from the Institute of Science of the data and Artificial Intelligence (DATAI), and Jokin de Irala, from the ICS. 

According to agreement experts, unstructured leisure activities, i.e. those that are carried out without a regular schedule , defined objectives or rules and without adult supervision, increase the likelihood that young people will drink alcohol frequently and in larger quantities.

Benefit for adolescents with less self-control

The authors of work also assessed adolescents' self-control and evaluated its relationship with alcohol intake. They found that adolescents with lower self-control were more susceptible to being influenced by their leisure environment. 

Thus, article suggests that for young people with poor self-control, family leisure significantly reduces the likelihood of binge drinking, the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time. This influence of the family in neutralising this consequence of lack of self-control was especially B in Spain and the Netherlands. 

The article, graduate Adolescents' Alcohol Use: Does the Type of Leisure Activity Matter? A Cross-National Study has been published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Q1 in the category (Q1) "Public, Environmental and Occupational Health".