"Tell Me How Much Your Friends Consume"-Personal, Behavioral, Social, and Attitudinal Factors Associated with Alcohol and Cannabis Use Among European School Students

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2021 Feb 13

PMID 33578655

Citations 8

Authors

Stefanie M Helmer

Gregor Burkhart

Joao Matias

Christoph Buck

Feline Engling Cardoso

Julian Vicente

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Substance use in European adolescents remains a serious health concern. Assessing what affects adolescents' substance use is crucial for implementing effective prevention. This study aims to examine alcohol and cannabis use-related behavioral, social, and attitudinal variables that might directly be considered to guide prevention responses for adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional data of 78,554 15-16-year-old school students from the 2011 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) from 26 European countries were analyzed. Self-reported drunkenness in the last 30 days and cannabis use in the last 12 months served as dependent variables. To investigate which factors are associated with risky substance use, multivariable logistic regressions were used.

Results: 17.7% of respondents reported drunkenness in the last 30 days, and 14.9% used cannabis in the last 12 months. The most important predictor for risky substance use was the perception that most/all of their friends engaged in substance use behavior, followed by lack of parental support, low personal adherence to rules, and low school performance.

Conclusion: Interventions addressing the perceived descriptive norms either directly or by changing environmental cues, opportunities, and regulations, as well as effective parenting and academic support may prevent and reduce risky substance use behavior among adolescents.

Citing Articles

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Risk and Protective Factors for Gambling Among Youth by origin: Findings from the three waves of cross-sectional Finnish School Health Promotion Study among 238,939 Students.

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