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Abstract
The experience as a school psychologist allowed me to notice that expressions like “I was
like trash in the gang’s barbecue”, and “we chatted away, only the girls, and we all got
drunk”, are very common in conversations between Elementary and High School students,
pointing out to a concerning incidence of alcohol consumption among female adolescents.
However, studies about this theme haven’t gone deep in the nowadays reality these girls are
living in. This study aimed at comprehending the aspects of the relation between girls and
alcohol, starting from the point that exaggerated consumption indicates introductory rituals
for some groups, making social relations easier and becoming a sociability factor. To give
this study some support, a questionnaire was applied to 1028 female teenagers, between 12
and 18 years old, students in private schools in Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte. The
context chosen for the development of the study - private schools -, arose from the notion
that the majority of the data collection carried out about alcohol and other psychotropic
drugs aim at public school students. The instrument used was divided in two parts, one that
treated about the first contact with alcohol (experimentation), and other that points to the
current relation with alcoholic beverages, with 27 closed questions but nevertheless with
available space for manifestation like if other; which?, applied collectively in classrooms.
The data received a statistic treatment from SPSS and showed that the first contact with
alcoholic beverage happens in domestic environment, having parents and friends as
companions, very precociously, around 10 years of age, as curiosity. At this moment, Ice
drink is the most consumed beverage. The main reason that leads them to drink is to “pass
the time” in parties, and they don’t drink alone (93% of students researched), what gives
alcohol this recreational and socializing characteristic. They do consider alcohol a kind of
drug, but are not afraid of getting addicted. People that drink usually show to be
extroverted, they “get happier” (40,3%) and are not shy at all (29,4%), have attitudes of
moral character, like “to get involved with unknown boys” (18,5%), get numb (9,9%), or get
sad (1,9%). They label as vulgar the girls that drink, depending on the amount, and to be
stimulated by the boys to drink. The study shows that systematic interventions of the school
are necessary, once it is an institution that should care about education and personality traits
of children and adolescents, as well as the important role of the psychologist in this context.
Besides, it claims the society to get effectively involved with the public policies that already
exist.
Key words: Female adolescent – alcohol consumption – sociability – school psychology