The objective of this study was to evaluate the age at which alcohol consumption begins and assess alcohol habits among young adolescents, in order to implement and evaluate specific preventive measures aimed at reducing the impact of alcohol related conditions. Students of a middle school in the province of Catania (Italy) were interviewed anonymously, through a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Overall, 432 students aged 10-14 years (47% male and 53% female) participated in the study. Results show that 52% of students have tried alcoholic drinks, and that alcohol consumption is more frequent among males with respect to females (54.2% versus 41.9%; p = 0.03). and increases with increasing year attended at school (1st year: 43.2%; 2nd year: 44.1%; 3rd year: 55.3%, Chi-square for trend p = 0.03). The average alcohol intake among drinkers is 7.0 g/day. Fourteen percent of students are regular drinkers and a higher percentage of regular drinkers can be found among the male population compared to the female population (19.7% versus 8.7% respectively; p = 0.001). Finally, 8% of participating students admitted having been drunk at least once in their lifetime.
