Open AccessLifetime alcohol‐use prevalence and correlated factors among street children in Iran
Author(s) -
Roshanfekr Payam,
Ali Delaram,
Noroozi Mehdi,
Bahrami Giti,
Vameghi Meroe
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.2781
Subject(s) - confidence interval , medicine , demography , logistic regression , odds ratio , alcohol , cross sectional study , functional illiteracy , environmental health , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , sociology , political science , law
Background Several studies on street children in Iran reported a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among this group. This study assessed the prevalence of lifetime alcohol use and correlated factors among street children in Iran. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional survey among 856 street children from six provinces of Iran. Behavioral data were collected by trained interviewers using a structured questionnaire. Our target outcome was lifetime alcohol use. We examined associations between individual variables and lifetime alcohol use using the chi‐square. A multiple logistic regression model included variables with a p ‐value < .2. Lastly, we reported the adjusted odds ratio (an OR) point estimate and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as the effect measure. Results Mean age and standard deviation (SD) of alcohol drinkers were 14.94 ± 2.16. Overall, 16.6% (CI95%: 14.38%, 19.55%) of participants reported lifetime alcohol use, and almost 60% of children reported alcohol use over three past months. In the final model, factors that were independently associated with alcohol use included the 15–18 age range (AOR 2.35, 95% CI 1.48−3.73), Iranian nationality (AOR 3.36, 95% CI 2.07−5.45), working longer than 5 years in the streets (AOR 2.90, 95% CI 1.72−4.88), father's drug use (AOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.22−3.01), and illiteracy (AOR 1.65, 95% CI 1.03−2.66). Conclusions The results of the present study demonstrated that preventive plans for alcohol use among street children must be addressed using the services provided by governmental and nongovernmental organizations.