Background: Adolescent alcohol use varies across Europe. Differences in use might be due to variations in social drinking norms. These norms become apparent, e.g. in different proportions of alcohol drinking types per country. This study’s purpose is to cluster European countries according to prevalence rates of alcohol drinking habits among adolescents aged 12–16. Methods: Based on results of previously done cluster analyses regarding alcohol use patterns in Europe, a second level hierarchical cluster analysis is performed. To do so, the proportions of each drinking pattern per country (non, mild, episodic, frequent and heavy episodic use) across 25 European countries (N = 48 423, M = 13.83 years, 48.5% male) are used as classifying variables. Results: Three country clusters are extracted that differentiate between eight countries with ‘mainly non-using’ adolescents, six countries with adolescents who use alcohol in a ‘mainly mild but frequent’ way and 11 countries that show the ‘highest proportions of (heavy) episodic drinking adolescents’. Conclusions: When applying and developing intervention strategies, differences in adolescent alcohol drinking cultures (i.e. social drinking norms) within Europe should be focused on. Alcohol policies and prevention programs should take cultural aspects like social drinking norms into account.

Background: Although the detrimental health effects of alcohol are well established, consumption levels are high in many high-income countries such as Germany. Improving alcohol health literacy presents an integrated approach to alcohol prevention and an important complement to alcohol policy. Our aim was to identify and prioritize measures to enhance alcohol health literacy and hence to reduce alcohol consumption, using Germany as an example. Methods: A series of recommendations for improving alcohol health literacy were derived from a review of the literature and subsequently rated by five experts. Recommendations were rated according to their likely impact on enhancing (a) alcohol health literacy and (b) reducing alcohol consumption. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using a two-way intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Eleven recommendations were established for three areas of action: (1) education and information, (2) health care system, and (3) alcohol control policy. Education and information measures were rated high to increase alcohol health literacy but low to their impact on alcohol consumption, while this pattern was reversed for alcohol control policies. The ratings showed good agreement (ICC: 0.85–0.88). Conclusions: Improving alcohol health literacy and reducing alcohol consumption should be considered complementary and become part of a comprehensive alcohol strategy to curb the health, social, and economic burden of alcohol.

Background and Aims: Previous research has pointed to the potential of workplace interventions addressing alcohol consumption. However, there is still no systematic overview of the effects of these interventions. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the effectiveness of workplace interventions addressing alcohol use by conducting a meta‐analysis.Methods: A systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials of workplace alcohol interventions published between 1995 and 2020 was conducted in five databases. Studies were included if they were performed in the workplace and reported universal or selective interventions aiming for alcohol use reduction. Primary outcomes were any measures of alcohol use. Standardized mean effect sizes were used to calculate the meta‐analytic random‐effects‐model. Additional analyses were carried out to identify potential moderators and to examine the amount of heterogeneity and publication bias.Results: Twenty studies with 4484 participants were integrated into the meta‐analysis. Results revealed a significant overall mean effect indicating a reduction of alcohol use in favor of the treatment group (d = −0.16, 95% CI = [−0.2715; −0.0511]). Heterogeneity within the data structure was found to be moderate to substantial (I² = 75.9%, Q‐test P < 0.001, τ² = 0.0375). Additional moderator analyses only showed a significant effect for length of measurement period (P = 0.049).Conclusions: Alcohol‐related prevention programs conducted in the workplace have a statistically significant and favorable effect on alcohol consumption. Although the overall mean effect is considered to be small, it underlines the effectiveness of workplace interventions targeting a reduction in alcohol use.

It has been called into question whether widely used screening instruments for child mental health can provide comparable results across countries and cultures. Socialization goals can influence whether and to what extent a parent considers a behavior to be problematic and thus might influence parental reports on their child’s behavior. We tested comparability of parental reports between native German (N = 116) and Turkish origin (N = 77) parents in Germany in an online study using a vignette approach. Parents were asked to rate the perceived problem severity of the same behavior depicted in the vignettes. We expected and found that parents of Turkish origin in Germany rate the externalizing problem behaviour depicted in the vignettes as more problematic compared to native German parents. The effect was fully mediated by parental approval of the socialization goals obedience and collectivism. We also controlled for social desirability responding and an extreme response style.