Abstract:

Background:
Alcohol consumption by adolescents is associated with experimental behaviors, with the "pressure" made by group peers and with the fun of responding to behavioral requirements of the group itself. Teenagers take the risk of, after a consumption trial period, increasing the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption causing repercussions on their health and academic performance.

Objective:
To analyze the relationship between involvement with alcohol, academic performance and self-esteem of adolescents attending high school.
Methods: We resorted to a quantitative, cross-sectional, analytical, descriptive and correlational research model. 971 high school students from public and cooperative schools participated in the study. The evaluation protocol includes the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Scale Teens’ Involvement with Alcohol of Mayer & Filstead (1979) adapted by Fontes & Alves (1999), the Reduced Questionnaire of Self-regulation (Carey, Neal & Collins, 2004 adapted by Castillo & Dias, 2009) and the Questionnaire about expectations towards Alcohol to Adolescents (Pilatti, Godoy & Brussino, 2010).

Results:
Students aged from 14 to 21 years old, mostly boys (50.80%), aged under 16 (43.40%), living in rural areas (66.40%). We found that 42.60% of students had failed school years, mostly among boys (47.70%) than girls (37.40%). 62.00% had a positive feeling towards school, ie they "like" school, 32.00% demonstrated a sense of indifference towards school and 6.00% said They "don’t like" school. The majority (45.10%) reveals high expectations related to alcohol. Boys attending the 10th grade, who don’t like school and are habitual drinkers, revealed a higher level of global expectations regarding alcohol. 47.40% have good self-esteem. The highest level of self-esteem was registered among 17 years old boys, living in urban areas, with an average-high or high yield, with a weekly average value for personal expenses of 10 € to € 25, attending 12th grade and with abstinent or reduced expectations regarding alcohol. Regarding the involvement with alcohol, boys proved to be more involved, being mostly habitual drinkers without problems (75.30%). Students with 18 years old or more, with higher monetary values for personal expenses, attending 12th grade with history of previously failing school years and admitting they “don’t like” school also feature greater involvement with alcohol.

Conclusion:
The earlier is the experimentation of alcohol beverages, the higher is the probability of developing alcohol related problems during adolescence. School is one of the most privileged places to promote health education, facilitating changes in attitudes and behaviors related to alcohol consumption. Implementation and evaluation of a set of interventions in order to improve the relationship between adolescents and schools, particularly in terms of psychological context variables (self-esteem, self-concept and self-regulated behavior), seem to be equally important.

Keywords:

Adolescence, alcohol, academic performance self-esteem, expectations related to alcohol.