Cannabis consumption initiation among adolescents: A longitudinal study

This study aimed to investigate factors related to initiation of cannabis consumption among adolescents. A questionnaire was administered to 2043 14–15-year-olds from Barcelona who were followed-up and re-interviewed after 15 months. A bivariate analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with consumption, and multivariate logistic regression was carried out to model cannabis initiation. Among matched students, 23.7% of non-users at baseline had started to consume 15 months later (23.0% boys and 24.2% girls). Among those who had reported occasional cannabis use, 30.3% reported consumption during the previous month at the follow-up survey. Factors associated with cannabis initiation among boys and girls were smoking, risky alcohol use and intention to consume cannabis. Among boys, other associated factors were frequenting bars or discotheques and not having organized activities in leisure time. Among girls, another risk factor for initiation was having cannabis-using friends. Cannabis initiation was facilitated by legal drug use, favorable attitudes and context-related variables. These results highlight the role of behavioral and contextual variables and support the importance of reinforcing social skills in preventive programs.     

Alcohol consumption among adolescents in Kraljevo,Serbia

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of alcohol consumption among adolescents in one town in Central Serbia. A questionnaire was used to obtain data from 191 Serbian students aged 18 years regarding personal experience with alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, along with sociodemographics data. Alcohol consumption was reported by 97.4% subjects, with 34.9% having the first experience with alcohol at the age of 14 years or less. Binge drinking (the intake of five or more drinks at one sitting) was reported by 37.8% subjects. Significantly higher consumption of beer (p<0.0001) and spirits (p=0.03) was observed in boys. The most common reason for both initiation and continuation of drinking, regardless of gender, were celebrations (p≥0.12). Smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to consume all alcoholic beverages more frequently (p≤0.04) and in larger quantities (p≤0.004). More frequent or more extensive alcohol consumption, or both, was associated in boys with frequent going out and socializing (p≤0.01), close peer relationship (p=0.04), alcohol abuse within the immediate environment (p≤0.04), better financial status of family (p=0.04), and parental criticism (p≤0.02); in girls, it was associated with parental disapproval (p≤0.02), alcohol abuse within the immediate environment (p≤0.04), and general discontentedness (p=0.049). Regardless of gender, positive alcohol outcome expectancies increased alcohol consumption (p≤0.048), and negative expectancies decreased intake (p≤0.047).     

Alcohol consumption and blood pressure in a New Zealand community study

The relationship between stated alcohol consumption and blood pressure was investigated in 901 adults who participated in a multiphasic health survey in Milton in May 1981. Subjects taking oral contraceptives or drugs which could lower blood pressure were excluded. Eighty-five percent of men and 52% of women reported taking some alcohol at least once a month. The percentage using alcohol was highest (96%) in men aged 20-29 years. The reported mean weekly intake by users was 171 g for men and 56 g for women. After adjustment for age and body mass index, there was a positive association between alcohol intake and blood pressure for men. The mean systolic and diastolic pressures of male heavy alcohol users (300 g or more alcohol per week) were, respectively, 9.8 and 8.9 mmHg higher than those of male non-drinkers. No relationship between alcohol intake and blood pressure was found in the women.     

Alcohol use and social adjustment in adolescence: a longitudinal, multilevel study

The study examined to what extent alcohol use among Dutch adolescents (1,421 adolescents, aged 12-16) was related to sociability and whether the social context affects this association. Data were based on self-reports and peer reports during 2005 and 2006. The results indicated that in contrast to previous assumptions, alcohol use did not predict changes in subsequent sociability. The findings also did not support the idea of curvilinear effects of alcohol use. In addition, the proportion of peers in class who drank had no effect on this association. Limitations and directions for future research are given.     

Alcohol consumption and injury risk: a case-crossover study in Sydney, Australia

Introduction and Aims. Alcohol contributes to traumatic outcomes that kill or disable at a relatively young age, resulting in the loss of many years of life or disability. Harm from alcohol consumption can result from chronic or acute alcohol use. The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence of alcohol‐related injury and contextual factors contributing to injury risk in an ethnically diverse population of Sydney. Design and Methods. The study was undertaken in emergency departments of six hospitals between 2005 and 2006 and used a case‐crossover design. The 1599 attendees surveyed (response rate 64.2%) were aged over 14 years and had presented with an injury to the emergency department. Results. Attendees were predominantly male, young, 40% spoke a language other than English at home and 17% had been drinking in the 6 h prior to their injury. Those born overseas drank at lower levels than their Australian born counterparts. The risk of sustaining an injury was 1.42 times greater in attendees consuming alcohol compared with those who had not. At very high intake levels (>90 g) the risk of injury was statistically significant for both men and women (men odds ratio: 1.88, 95% confidence interval: 1.46–2.42; women odds ratio: 1.89, 95% confidence interval: 1.04–3.43). Drinking at a licensed premise and drinking alone or with a group of people also significantly increased the risk of injury. Discussion and Conclusions. The results support current Australian policy concerning alcohol but indicate that further restrictions and increased warnings for the community may be warranted.[Williams M, Mohsin M, Weber D, Jalaludin B, Crozier J. Alcohol consumption and injury risk: a case‐crossover study in Sydney, Australia. Drug Alcohol Rev 2011;30:344–354]     

Alcohol consumption and social network ties among adolescents: Evidence from Add Health

Although many studies have estimated the influence of peers on risky health behaviors, few have estimated the gains that adolescents receive from such behaviors, particularly in terms of social payoffs for complying with peer behavior. In this paper, we explore the extent to which alcohol consumption increases popularity of adolescents. Using data from a nationally-representative sample of adolescents, we estimate endogeneity-corrected models with school-level fixed effects to identify the effect of alcohol consumption on social network ties. We find that alcohol consumption leads to an increase in popularity, with the largest gains experienced by white males and females. Our results provide new evidence on the motivation behind adolescent drinking and have important implications for substance abuse interventions.     

Alcohol consumption and marital status of French women in the GAZEL cohort: a longitudinal analysis between 1992 and 1996

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to describe women's consumption of alcoholic beverages as it related to their marital status over a 5-year period (1992 through 1996) and to study alcohol consumption around the time of marriage or divorce. METHOD: The study sample comprised 4,782 women who worked for Electricité de France-Gaz de France and belonged to the GAZEL cohort. The relevant variables collected by five successive annual questionnaires included marital status and alcohol consumption characteristics. Marginal models were used, reflecting the fact that the data were not independent. RESULTS: Divorcees and widows drank less than married women as measured in fewer glasses per day and fewer days per week drinking wine. Women in the oldest generation drank more than the younger women. Getting married was accompanied by an increased level of drinking, especially of wine, beginning a year before the wedding and lasting until 4 years after it. Consumption declined briefly during the year after a divorce. CONCLUSIONS: These results may be useful for designing prevention programs aimed at groups of women in the general population in France.     

Alcohol consumption and discounting

This study addresses whether discounting of future rewards may have an impact on alcohol consumption and propensity to alcohol-related harms, by applying survey data among young people whose drinking career hardly may have affected their time preferences. Analyses from a school survey among 17,000, over 13–17 year olds in Norway showed that discount rates were positively associated with drinking frequency and intoxication frequency when age, gender, impulsivity and disposable income were controlled for. Moreover, the results suggested that having made choices under the influence of alcohol leading to a negative outcome (deliberate self-harm, drunk-driving, vandalism or use of narcotics) was significantly more prevalent among those with high-discount rates compared to others, also when controlling for alcohol consumption, age, gender and impulsivity. The results are discussed in relation to the potential role of discounting in pathways to addictive behaviour.     

Use of cigarettes to improve affect and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal study of adolescents

Smoking to alleviate negative affect or improve physiological functioning (i.e., self-medication) is one explanation for the association between depression and smoking in adolescents. This study tests whether using cigarettes to improve mood or physiological functioning is associated with the onset, and change over time, of elevated depressive symptoms.     

Associations between marital status and alcohol consumption in a longitudinal study of female twins.

OBJECTIVE: Prior studies have documented an association between marriage and lower alcohol consumption. Data from a longitudinal study of female twins were used to address whether longitudinal drinking trajectories are more closely related to current marital status or to patterns of marital status over time. METHOD: Past-year alcohol consumption frequency and quantity were obtained on one to three occasions, over 8 years, from 1,986 women aged 17-61. Latent growth models were applied to study whether trajectories of alcohol consumption are altered at first marriage and differ for women with different patterns of marital status changes. RESULTS: There was substantial heterogeneity in consumption trajectories, but marital status was associated with a large proportion of the decline in consumption prior to age 30. Significant group differences in consumption trajectory were associated with marital status patterns; women who later divorced drank more than women who stayed married, and divorced women who remarried drank less than divorced women who did not remarry. Among identical twins, consumption patterns were associated with co-twin divorce, suggesting the marital "effect" may be partially due to family-level factors that influence drinking. CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with a decrease in drinking accompanying the transition from being single to first marriage, but the influences of divorce on drinking appear to exist prior to divorce, are not directly associated with current status and may be mediated by familial processes. These results suggest that the influences of marriage on alcohol consumption are complex and cannot be limited to the simple view that marriage causes decreased drinking.     

Alcohol consumption and physical symptoms in a Mexican American population

The negative health consequences of alcohol consumption are well established. The present study examines whether alcohol consumption is also associated with a series of self-reported physical symptoms. Analyses were performed on data from a three-generation study of Mexican Americans. Using four measures of alcohol consumption we found that alcohol consumption was related to physical symptoms only in the younger generation. While drinking levels in the older generation did not have sufficient variance to enable the assessment of their effects on symptoms, drinking levels in the middle generation were comparable to those in the younger generation. We hypothesized that the lack of association in the middle generation may reflect increased tolerance due to longer exposure to alcohol, to possible reduction of alcohol consumption by some middle-aged persons because of health problems, and to due possible removal from observation of certain middle-aged men whose heavy drinking led to health problems. Although alcohol consumption in the younger generation was not strongly associated with either psychosomatic or infectious symptoms, it was strongly related to upper respiratory symptoms among younger males. Among younger women, alcohol consumption was moderately related to physical symptoms with no symptom constellation having a particularly strong association with alcohol consumption.     

Predictive validity of cannabis consumption measures: Results from a national longitudinal study

BackgroundValidating the utility of cannabis consumption measures for predicting later cannabis related symptomatology or progression to cannabis use disorder (CUD) is crucial for prevention and intervention work that may use consumption measures for quick screening. This study examined whether cannabis use quantity and frequency predicted CUD symptom counts, progression to onset of CUD, and persistence of CUD.MethodsData from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) at Wave 1 (2001–2002) and Wave 2 (2004–2005) were used to identify three risk samples: (1) current cannabis users at Wave 1 who were at risk for having CUD symptoms at Wave 2; (2) current users without lifetime CUD who were at risk for incident CUD; and (3) current users with past-year CUD who were at risk for persistent CUD. Logistic regression and zero-inflated Poisson models were used to examine the longitudinal effect of cannabis consumption on CUD outcomes.ResultsHigher frequency of cannabis use predicted lower likelihood of being symptom-free but it did not predict the severity of CUD symptomatology. Higher frequency of cannabis use also predicted higher likelihood of progression to onset of CUD and persistence of CUD. Cannabis use quantity, however, did not predict any of the developmental stages of CUD symptomatology examined in this study.ConclusionsThis study has provided a new piece of evidence to support the predictive validity of cannabis use frequency based on national longitudinal data. The result supports the common practice of including frequency items in cannabis screening tools.     

Alcohol consumption and health-services utilization in Germany

OBJECTIVE: This study tests two hypotheses. The first is that a U-shaped or inverse linear association exists between alcohol consumption and health-services utilization. Although this relationship has been examined previously, conclusions have been inconsistent. Additional research is needed to explain why abstainers use more health services than drinkers. Our second hypothesis is that abstainers with a history of heavy drinking seek out more health services than those without heavy drinking histories. METHOD: Data were from two surveys conducted in Germany (N's=4268 [51% women] and 6857 [52% women]). Alcohol consumption was assessed using a quantity-frequency measure. RESULTS: Outpatient and inpatient services showed an inverse linear relation with alcohol consumption. Among abstainers, those with a drinking history exhibited a higher use of outpatient visits but were not more likely to have been hospitalized. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the view that alcohol consumption is associated with decreased utilization of health services. Results provide some evidence for the hypothesis that former heavy drinkers have higher health-services utilization than either moderate drinkers or other abstainers.     

Alcohol consumption and lifestyle in medical students

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th year medical students completed a questionnaire with 35 questions relating to diet, general health, exercise, smoking and drinking. Based on reported 'typical weekly intake' one-third of male non-Asian students in years 1-3, and 59% in year 5 were drinking above safe limits. 12-26% of non-Asian female students were drinking above safe limits. In all years most Asian students were drinking within safe limits. Non-Asians smoked more than Asians and males smoked more than females. A group of non-Asian male students with alcohol intake for the previous week > 35 units was compared with a group of safe drinkers (<25 > 0 units/week). Significantly more of the former group drank > 10 units per occasion, had been hurt as a result of someone's drinking, had caused physical harm and drank at lunch. Although 65% were aware their level of drinking was dangerous, only 7.5% wanted advice on safe drinking and only 5% wanted to drink less. The dangerous level drinkers ate less fruit and smoked more cigarettes than those drinking safely, but there were no other significant differences and there was no evidence for impaired academic performance.     

The characterization of inconsistencies in self-reports of alcohol and marijuana use in a longitudinal study of adolescents.

The reliability of self-reported measures remains an important issue for research on adolescent alcohol and drug use. Many studies have concluded that adolescents' self-reports are valid and reliable, but few studies have excluded consistent nonusers from their reliability estimates, and no study has examined in detail the reliability of reported age at first use of substances. This study explores the consistency of self-reports of frequency of use and age of first use of alcohol and marijuana in a sample of 5,770 secondary school students in a southeastern U.S. county. Two waves of data were collected between 1985 and 1988 using state-of-the-art data collection procedures and self-administered instruments. Consistency of reports was examined by comparing reports at T1 and T2, approximately 1 year apart. Results showed that when consistent nonusers were dropped from the analysis, consistency rates of lifetime frequency of use dropped from 82.7% to 74.7% for alcohol and from 95.6% to 83.2% for marijuana. Reports were more consistent for lifetime marijuana use than for alcohol use, but these results must be interpreted with caution given differences in the measures for the two substances. Reliability of reported age of first use was very low for both substances. When consistent nonusers were dropped from the analysis, only 27.8% of respondents made consistent estimates of their age at first alcohol use and 34.4% for their age at first marijuana use. Implications and recommendations for this area of research are discussed.