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Using Attitudes, Age and Gender to Estimate an Adolescent's Substance Use Risk.

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:The purpose of this paper is to present a strategy for estimating an individual's risk of alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use that relies on an assessment of an adolescent's age, gender and attitude. METHODOLOGY:The authors assembled surveys from 35,987 11 through 17 year-olds assembled from 36 databases were analysed to examine the relationship between attitude and behaviour. FINDINGS:Attitudes were strongly correlated with concurrent use of alcohol, drunkenness, smoking, and cannabis, with point biserial correlations of -0.555, -0.517, -0.552 and -0.476, respectively. Logistic regression provided a means for using age, gender and attitudes to estimate an individual's risk of engaging in substance use behaviour. Developmental changes in attitudes were estimated by analysing changes in scores associated with percentile rankings for each age and gender group. Projected year-to-year changes in attitude were used as a heuristic for estimating future risk. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS:Analyses relied on cross-sectional panel data. Analyses would benefit from longitudinal data in which age-related changes in attitudes could be more precisely modelled. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS:Information about estimated current and future risk may use useful for motivating the adoption and implementation of effective prevention approaches by parents and care providers. ORIGINALITY:The authors present a novel method for estimating an individual's risk of substance use knowing attitude, age and gender.

SUBMITTER: Hansen WB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5417548 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Using Attitudes, Age and Gender to Estimate an Adolescent's Substance Use Risk.

Hansen William B WB Hansen Jared L JL

Journal of children's services 20160101 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>The purpose of this paper is to present a strategy for estimating an individual's risk of alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use that relies on an assessment of an adolescent's age, gender and attitude.<h4>Methodology</h4>The authors assembled surveys from 35,987 11 through 17 year-olds assembled from 36 databases were analysed to examine the relationship between attitude and behaviour.<h4>Findings</h4>Attitudes were strongly correlated with concurrent use of alcohol, drunkenness, s ...[more]

PMID: 28479929

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Project description:IntroductionExposure to violence victimization may help explain disparities of substance use among gender-nonconforming youth (i.e., those whose gender expression differs from societal expectations).MethodsIn 2015, three large urban school districts (2 in California and 1 in Florida) conducted a Youth Risk Behavior Survey that included the assessment of gender expression among a racially/ethnically diverse population-based sample of 6,082 high school students. Five categories of violence victimization were assessed (felt unsafe at school, threatened or injured with a weapon at school, bullied at school, electronically bullied, and forced sexual intercourse). In 2019, the effect of violence victimization on substance use disparities was examined by calculating sex-stratified prevalence ratios by gender nonconformity, adjusted for sexual identity, race/ethnicity, and grade (adjusted prevalence ratio 1 [APR1]), and comparing these with prevalence ratios adjusted for those variables plus violence victimization (adjusted prevalence ratio 2 [APR2]).ResultsAmong female students, only being threatened or injured with a weapon was significantly (p<0.05) associated with gender nonconformity and there were no substance use disparities by gender nonconformity. Among male students, every category of violence victimization was more prevalent among gender-nonconforming than among gender-conforming students and most substance use categories demonstrated significant gender nonconformity disparities. After controlling for violence victimization, these disparities decreased but remained statistically significant for the use of cocaine (APR1=2.84 vs APR2=1.99), methamphetamine (APR1=4.47 vs APR2=2.86), heroin (APR1=4.55 vs APR2=2.96), and injection drug use (APR1=7.90 vs APR2=4.72).ConclusionsSchool-based substance use prevention programs may benefit from strategies that support gender diversity and reduce violence victimizations experienced by gender-nonconforming students, by providing a safe and supportive school environment.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Physical activity (PA) has been shown to develop better fitness and body function in children. Various studies have shown that as the age of students increases, its correlation with school achievement decreases. Different hormonal changes during adolescence make it difficult to adjust in his/her environment, causing stress. To the best of our knowledge, no study has studied the correlation between stress-related hormones and school performance among adolescents. This study was conducted to evaluate physical activity and stress-related hormones, cortisol and serotonin, among school adolescents aged 12-18 years old and find their association with academic achievements. METHODS:A total of 300 students were invited to participate in this study. Physical activity of the participants was assessed in relation to the time spent performing various physical activities. End of the academic year grades were obtained from the school as a collective measure of academic achievement and executive function. The levels of cortisol and serotonin were measured using the competitive immunoassay techniques. RESULTS:There was a significant correlation between age, gender, BMI, cortisol, serotonin, physical activity score; and academic achievement, and executive functioning among participants. Academic achievement and executive functioning scores correlated positively with gender, serotonin, physical activity score, but negatively with age, BMI and salivary cortisol. Stepwise regression analysis showed that physical activity and demographic parameters and stress-related hormones, cortisol and serotonin, explained around 61.9-77.9% of academic performance and executive functioning variation in school adolescents, especially females. CONCLUSIONS:Optimal physical activity and release of stress-related hormones could be the determining factor for performance in school and other activities. These results should be taken into consideration while planning the school curriculum.

Project description:Objectives The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound physical and mental health effects on populations around the world. Limited empirical research has used a gender-based lens to evaluate the mental health impacts of the pandemic, overlooking the impact of public health measures on marginalized groups, such as women, and the gender diverse community. This study used a gender-based analysis to determine the prevalence of psychosocial symptoms and substance use (alcohol and cannabis use in particular) by age, ethnicity, income, rurality, education level, Indigenous status, and sexual orientation. Methods Participants in the study were recruited from previously established cohorts as a part of the COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Study of a Provincial Population-Based Cohort for Gender and Sex (RESPPONSE) study. Those who agreed to participate were asked to self-report symptoms of depression, anxiety, pandemic stress, loneliness, alcohol use, and cannabis use across five phases of the pandemic as well as retrospectively before the pandemic. Results For all psychosocial outcomes, there was a significant effect of time with all five phases of the pandemic being associated with more symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness relative to pre-COVID levels (p < .0001). Gender was significantly associated with all outcomes (p < .0001) with men exhibiting lower scores (i.e., fewer symptoms) than women and gender diverse participants, and women exhibiting lower scores than the gender diverse group. Other significant predictors were age (younger populations experiencing more symptoms, p < .0001), ethnicity (Chinese/Taiwanese individuals experiencing fewer symptoms, p = .005), and Indigenous status (Indigenous individuals experiencing more symptoms, p < .0001). Alcohol use and cannabis use increased relative to pre-pandemic levels, and women reported a greater increase in cannabis use than men (p < .0001). Conclusions Our findings highlight the need for policy makers and leaders to prioritize women, gender-diverse individuals, and young people when tailoring public health measures for future pandemics.

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Using Attitudes, Age and Gender to Estimate an Adolescent's Substance Use Risk.

Publications

Using Attitudes, Age and Gender to Estimate an Adolescent's Substance Use Risk.

Similar Datasets

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