Mild or borderline intellectual disability as a risk for alcohol consumption in adolescents - A matched-pair study.
Male teens with MBID often abstain, but if they start they binge—so teach paced drinking and refusal skills early.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Reis et al. (2017) paired teens with mild or borderline intellectual disability (MBID) with similar teens without disability. They asked each pair about drinking habits, drunkenness, and risky acts after drinking.
The design let the team see if MBID itself changes alcohol use, not just poverty or peer pressure.
What they found
More teens with MBID never drank at all, so their overall alcohol use was lower. But the boys with MBID who did drink got drunk faster and took more risks than the matched boys without disability.
It was an "all-or-nothing" split: abstain or binge, with little middle ground.
How this fits with other research
Worsham et al. (2015) found one in five adults with ID in psychiatric care screened positive for alcohol use disorder. Olaf’s teen data extend that picture: risk starts early and hides inside a mostly abstinent group.
Einfeld et al. (1996) showed four in ten kids with ID have serious psychiatric disorders yet few get help. Olaf adds alcohol to that risk list and flags boys as a high-need slice.
Tassé et al. (2013) proved teens with MBID can learn new skills when practice is clear and stepped. The same stepped approach could work for alcohol refusal, but no one has tested it yet.
Why it matters
If you serve teens with MBID, do not relax after hearing "I don’t drink." Ask about first drinks, parties, and peer pressure. Teach paced sipping, drink refusal, and exit plans before the first sip. A short role-play now may prevent a binge later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies that investigate the association between mild or borderline intellectual disability (MBID) and alcohol use in adolescents have not examined whether MBID is an independent risk factor for drinking. AIM: It is important to examine whether MBID is a risk factor for alcohol consumption by controlling concomitant factors in a matched-pair design. METHOD: Overall, 329 students from two schools for children with MBID self-reported their drinking behavior via questionnaires, and 329 students from regular schools were matched to this group by gender, age, family composition, and parental drinking behavior. Matched pairs were compared based on alcohol consumption and motivation to drink. RESULTS: MBID is a protective factor, as disabled adolescents drink less on average. This effect is mainly due to larger proportions of youth with MBID who are abstinent. When male adolescents with MBID begin to drink, they are at an increased risk for intoxication and subsequent at-risk behaviors. Motivations to drink were explained by an interaction between MBID and consumption patterns. CONCLUSIONS: For male adolescents with MBID, there appears to be an "all-or-nothing" principle that guides alcohol consumption, which suggests a need for special interventions for this group.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.007