Smoking, drinking and drug use by young people in England,

Scotland and Wales

HEALTH BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN

World Health Organisation – Health Behaviours in School Aged Children

“The Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) study provides key insights into the health-related behaviours of young people. Its unique methodology has facilitated engagement with hundreds of thousands of young people in many parts of the world since its inception in 1983, building a data base over time that describes patterns and issues relevant to their health and well-being.”

http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/163857/Social-determinants-of-health-and-well-being-among-young-people.pdf

TOBACCO USE

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world, imposing a large burden on societies. Previous HBSC research has shown that tobacco use is related to other risk behaviours and negative health outcomes in young people, including unhealthy dieting patterns, high levels of alcohol consumption, bullying, early sexual initiation, poor self-rated health and low life satisfaction, frequent multiple health complaints and injuries.

15-year-olds who report firstsmoking at age 13 or younger

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GirlsBoys

How we compare to Europe15-year-old girls who report first smoking at age or younger

15-year-old boys who report first smoking at age or younger

ALCOHOL USE

Risky drinking, including frequent drinking and drunkenness, is associated with adverse psychological, social and physical health consequences, including academic failure, violence, accidents, injury and unprotected sexual intercourse. Alcohol can disrupt brain development in childhood and adolescence, particularly in the cortical region, which influences cognitive, emotional and social development.

Weekly drinking

Boys

11 year olds

13 year olds

15 year olds

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WalesEnglandScotland

Girls

11 year olds

13 year olds

15 year olds

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WalesEnglandScotland

How we compare to Europe15-year-old girls who drink alcohol at least once a week

15-year-old boys who drink alcohol at least once a week

15-year-olds who report first drunkenness at age or younger

Scotland Wales England0

5

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GirlsBoys

Been drunk at least twice

Boys

11 year olds

13 year olds

15 year olds

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11 year olds

13 year olds

15 year olds

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How we compare to Europe15 -year-old girls who have been drunk at least twice

15 -year-old boys who have been drunk at least twice

Policy Reflections

• School-based intervention programmes focusing specifically on alcohol use and targeting adolescents and their parents have considerable effects. Generic, psychosocial and developmental, school-based prevention programmes focusing on life skills and a healthy lifestyle in general are also effective and could be considered as policy and practice options.

• Family interventions are effective in delaying alcohol initiation and reducing frequency of consumption among adolescents. Family treatments focused on change in maladaptive behaviours, multidimensional family therapy and group-administered cognitive behavioural therapies have received considerable empirical support.

CANNABIS USE

Early-onset, heavy and accelerating cannabis use is related to a range of problems, including cognitive impairment, deteriorating school performance and dropout, externalizing problems such as risk taking, aggression and delinquency and internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety.

Girls

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Ever usedLast 30 days

Boys

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Ever usedLast 30 days

Young people were asked how often they had used cannabis in their lifetimes, during the last 12 months and during the last 30 days.

How we compare to Europe15-year-old girls who have used cannabis in the last days

15-year-old boys who have used cannabis in the last days

Cannabis User Groups

England Wales Scotland HBSC average

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Discontinued ExperimentersRegular users Heavy users

Young people (15-year-olds only) were asked whether they had used cannabis: in their life; in the last 12 months; and in the last 30 days. Response options ranged from “never” to “40 times or more”. Based on the frequency of use, four user groups were defined as follows:• discontinued users: those who have used

cannabis at least once in their lifetime but not in last 12 months;

• experimenters: those who have used cannabis 1–2 times in the last 12 months;

• regular users: those who have used cannabis 3–39 times in the past 12 months;

• heavy users: those who have used cannabis 40 times or more in the past 12 months.

Policy Reflections

• Interventions in schools that focus on increasing drug knowledge, decision-making skills, self-esteem and resistance to peer pressure effectively reduce cannabis use, and family-based treatments concentrating on cannabis or substance use are similarly effective; indeed, family-based and multisystem approaches have a large effect. Motivational interviewing is also effective.