Background: Alcohol consumption at a young age increases the risk of developing alcohol related problems later in life, poor academic performance and increased risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases or other psychiatric disorders such as lethargy, hopelessness and insomnia. Methods: Health institution based cross-sectional study was conducted in South West Ethiopia from January 15 – March 20, 2012. A sample size of 410 was calculated by Epi-info stat calc and stratified sampling technique was used. Multivariate logistic regression and Cox regression was used to assess the degree of association between dependent and independent variables