| Summary: | This article is focused on the connection between extracurricular sports and alcohol consumption among students in vocational schools (VS). Data collected in 2014 contains information on engagement in individual and team sports and frequency of alcohol consumption by students from vocational schools in St.-Petersburg (29 schools, 2935 students, 77% of them being boys with an average age of 17). Analysis with logistic regressions demonstrates that the effect of extra-curricular sports on drinking is rather low. The main conclusions are: (1) patterns of alcohol consumption are different for boys and girls; (2) team sports are positively related to frequency of drinking; (3) there are no gender differences in the relations between team sports and drinking; and (4) reaching the legal drinking age (18 years old) is more strongly associated with drinking than engaging in team sports. Future studies of adolescent risk behavior are necessary to understand whether these results are unique for extracurricular sports activities or common for all extracurricular activities which involve teams.
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