Substance Use among European Students: East - West Comparison between 1995 and 2011.

AIM: The aim of the study was to investigate long-term trends differences in student substance misuse between countries of former Eastern Bloc (FEB) and Western Europe (WEST). Overall data on student substance misuse gathered in five waves of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) conducted between 1995 and 2011 were pooled and analysed. Findings were compared between FEB and WEST countries at the five time-points of data collection. METHODS: Over 396,000 of 16 years old students from thirteen FEB and thirteen WEST countries completed anonymous ESPAD questionnaires. The following data were compared by Wilcoxon test: proportion of students with experience of taking a legal drug at less than 13 years of age (early onset), regular tobacco use, emerging signs of alcohol abuse, and differences in prevalence of illegal drug use. RESULTS: Significant differences in selected variables were found in the early onset of legal and illegal drug use between FEB and WEST countries. On the contrary, no significant differences were present when several random samples from the pool of 26 participating countries were drawn and compared. This strengthens our confidence that the differences between FEB and WEST countries did not occur due to chance. CONCLUSIONS: Student drug use in FEB countries tended to follow the trends and patterns of legal and illegal drug use in WEST countries with some time lag. At the times of decline in use of both, legal and illegal substances in the WEST countries, the FEB countries were experiencing increase and later on stabilisation in drug use. The possible explanatory factors including the impact of profound political, cultural and socio-economic changes following the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 were discussed. The implications of these trends and suggestions for drug prevention strategies were outlined.

Daily exercise and anabolic steroids use in adolescents: a cross-national European study.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between anabolic steroid (AS) use and intensive physical exercise among adolescents. DESIGN/SETTING: The 1999 cross-sectional European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). Data collection by standardized methodology using anonymous self-administered questionnaires completed in the classroom. PARTICIPANTS: National probability samples of a total of 18,430 16-year-old high school students from six European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, the Slovak Republic, and the U.K.) MEASUREMENTS: Besides AS use and physical exercise, questionnaire items selected for this study included tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use, indicators of other deviant behavior (self-harming thoughts and behavior, truancy, aggressive behavior), friends' use of AS, and perceived availability. Backward elimination with likelihood ratio tests was used to select the variables to be retained in a mutlifactorial model. Interactions of other independent variables with country were checked. FINDINGS: Logistic regression analysis of lifetime AS users compared to nonusers showed that the odds of lifetime AS use are 1.4 times higher for students who exercise almost daily and 1.8 times higher for boys compared to girls. Significant associations of AS use were also found with current frequent alcohol use, lifetime use of tranquilizers/sedatives and cannabis, and with the perceptions of friends' use of AS and of easy availability of the substance. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that daily exercising appears to increase the risk of anabolic steroid use in adolescents. However, a more general pattern of closely interlinked deviant types of behavior, such as other drug use and aggressive behavior, is prominent. Preventive interventions are needed targeted towards adolescents involved in intensive exercise and sport. These should take into account both the idiosyncrasy and setting of the sporting culture and the special characteristics of this group.

Prevalence of youth gambling and potential influence of substance use and other risk factors throughout 33 European countries: first results from the 2015 ESPAD study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although generally prohibited by national regulations, underage gambling has become popular in Europe, with relevant cross-country prevalence variability. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of underage gambling in Europe stratified by type of game and on-/off-line mode and to examine the association with individual and family characteristics and substance use. DESIGN: Our study used data from the 2015 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) cross-sectional study, a survey using self-administered anonymous questionnaires. SETTING: Thirty-three European countries. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen-year-old-year-old students (n = 93 875; F = 50.8%). MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome measure was prevalence of past-year gambling activity. Key predictors comprised individual behaviours, substance use and parenting (regulation, monitoring and caring). FINDINGS: A total of 22.6% of 16-year-old students in Europe gambled in the past year: 16.2% on-line, 18.5% off-line. High prevalence variability was observed throughout countries both for mode and types of game. With the exception of cannabis, substance use shows a higher association with gambling, particularly binge drinking [odds ratio (OR) = 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.39-1.53), life-time use of inhalants (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.47-1.68) and other substances (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.65-1.92)]. Among life habits, the following showed a positive association: truancy at school (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.18-1.35), going out at night (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.26-1.38), participating in sports (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.24-1.37). A negative association was found with reading books for leisure (OR = 0.82%, 95% CI = 0.79-0.86), parents' monitoring of Saturday night activities (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.77-0.86) and restrictions on money provided by parents as a gift (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.84-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: Underage gambling in Europe appears to be associated positively with alcohol, tobacco and other substance use (but not cannabis), as well as with other individual behaviours such as truancy, going out at night and active participation in sports, and is associated negatively with reading for pleasure, parental monitoring of evening activities and parental restriction of money.

'Are The Times A-Changin'? Trends in adolescent substance use in Europe.

AIMS: To estimate temporal trends in adolescents' current cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use in Europe by gender and region, test for regional differences and evaluate regional convergence. DESIGN AND SETTING: Five waves of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) from 28 countries between 1999 and 2015. Countries were grouped into five regions [northern (NE), southern (SE), western (WE), eastern Europe (EE) and the Balkans (BK)]. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 223 814 male and 211 712 female 15-16-year-old students. MEASUREMENTS: Daily cigarette use, weekly alcohol use, monthly heavy episodic drinking (HED) and monthly cannabis use. Linear and quadratic trends were tested using multi-level mixed-effects logistic regression; regional differences were tested using pairwise Wald tests; mean absolute differences (MD) of predicted prevalence were used for evaluating conversion. FINDINGS: Daily cigarette use among boys in EE showed a declining curvilinear trend, whereas in all other regions a declining linear trend was found. With the exception of BK, trends of weekly drinking decreased curvilinear in both genders in all regions. Among girls, trends in WE, EE and BK differed from trends in NE and SE. Monthly HED showed increasing curvilinear trends in all regions except in NE (both genders), WE and EE (boys each). In both genders, the trend in EE differed from the trend in SE. Trends of cannabis use increased in both genders in SE and BK; differences were found between the curvilinear trends in EE and BK. MD by substance and gender were generally somewhat stable over time. CONCLUSIONS: Despite regional differences in prevalence of substance use among European adolescents from 1999 to 2015, trends showed remarkable similarities, with strong decreasing trends in cigarette use and moderate decreasing trends in alcohol use. Trends of cannabis use only increased in southern Europe and the Balkans. Trends across all substance use indicators suggest no regional convergence.

Family structure and adolescent cigarette smoking in eleven European countries.

AIMS: This study seeks to establish (1) if different types of non-traditional family structures are related equally to adolescent cigarette smoking; (2) if each type of family structure is related equally to adolescent smoking in different countries and (3) if differences in such patterns can be explained by the prevalence of such family structures in each country. DESIGN: Self-reported cigarette smoking among 33 978 students in Cyprus, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom is analysed with multi-level hierarchical regression models. FINDINGS: Adolescents living with both biological parents smoke less than those living with single mothers, who in turn smoke less than those living with single fathers, mothers-stepfathers, or with neither biological parent. Living with fathers-stepmothers is associated with less smoking than living with single fathers, mother-stepfathers, or with neither biological parent, but does not differ from living with both biological parents or single mothers. The effects of living with single mothers, single fathers, or with neither biological parent are stronger in countries where such family types are less common. Differences in the strength of effects between countries become non-significant once the prevalence of each family type has been taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents living with both biological parents smoke less than their counterparts in most other family types, and adolescents living with single mothers or fathers-stepmothers smoke less than those living in other non-traditional family structures. The strength of this pattern varies inversely with the prevalence of such households in each country.

Drug scene in the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the period of transformation.

The article describes the development of drug-related problems in the context of the rapid sociopolitical and economic changes in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The period of the last decade is marked by an increase in drug use in both countries; 17% of adults in the Czech Republic and 12% of the Slovaks report lifetime drug use. The respective figures are even higher for the population of adolescents. According to the data from the ESPAD survey carried out in 1999, 35% of young Czechs and 19% of young Slovaks used marijuana. Metamphetamine is the most misused substance among problem drug users in the Czech Republic, and heroin dominates in Slovakia. The response of the society to social and health problems caused by drugs is discussed in the following areas: institutional differentiation, political coordination and legislative development. The need for further social research is stressed.