The ESPAD Study: implications for prevention

Abstract

The Europe an Schools Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) was concerned with the substance use , beliefs, attitudes and risk factors among over 50,000 16-year-olds in 26 European countries. Based on this data, the present paper focuses on critical issues in prevent ion and uses a country-level analysis with focus on the extent that contextual and cultural factors interact with factors influencing the use of alcohol and other drugs. The results indicate that: (i) an emphasis on risks and dangers may be a poor prevent ion strategy since many young people do not believe the widely accepted dangers of certain forms of substance use (e.g. cigarette smoking); (ii) misperception of norms in relation to substance use , that is, the belief that use of alcohol and other drugs is more common than it actually is, emerged in most countries with the exception of Nordic countries; (iii) the correlation between perceived access to substances and actual use depended on the substance involved; correlations we re strongest for cannabis but low for alcohol; (iv) the measure of problem behaviour was used in the ESPAD study (truancy from school), is correlated with substance use in a way that is opposite to that predicted in problem behaviour theory; and (v) the re were no indications that the potential restraining factors that we re examined in this study (involvement in athletics and leisure) acted in a way that prevented people from experimenting with drugs. The results of this analysis suggests that far from our having identified a core set of universal influences that act to determine substance use, the importance of cultural and contextual factors have been underestimated as has the importance of the specific substance involved.

Neural basis of reward anticipation and its genetic determinants

“…We next explored the relation of the fMRI nodes with indicators of psychopathology by searching for associations with behavioral outcomes relevant for ADHD and addictive behavior (Table 1). These outcomes included measures of hyperactivity from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (18) and lifetime alcohol consumption from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs (19) (Table 3 and Table S4). We found that lower activation in striatal node 1 was associated with higher parent-rated hyperactivity (R = −0.07; P corrected = 0.0310; df = 1,523).…”

Cannabis use, time perspective and risk perception: Evidence of a moderating effect†

“…Causal inferences issues (i.e., behaviours cause changes in perceived risk) require care, especially concerning findings from cross-sectional studies (Brewer, Weinstein, Cuite, & Herrington, 2004). Nevertheless, several findings based on cross-sectional data showed a negative link between cannabis consumption level and related risk perceptions (Morgan et al, 1999;Resnicow, Smith, Harrison, & Drucker, 1999). Furthermore, numerous longitudinal studies have demonstrated the decline of risk perception among individuals engaged in risky behaviours such as substance use (e.g., smoking relapse, between behaviours and related risk perceptions can be modulated according to individuals' profiles on different psychological constructs.…”

Changes in perceived risk of different substance use by ranking order of drug attitudes in different ESPAD‐countries

“…It has been shown many times (e.g. Morgan et al, 1999) that as prevalence of use increases risk perception on the whole decreases. This article suggests that the decrease in risk perception is mainly due to a lowering in the perceived risk of occasional use.…”

“…According to an analysis of the 1999 ESPAD data carried out by Morgan and colleagues (Morgan, Hibell, Andersson, Bjarnasson, Kokkevi, & Narusk, 1999) actual consumption and the perception of risk show strong negative correlation. Andersson, Miller, Beck and Lejckova (2009) arrived at similar conclusions based on the ESPAD data of 1995-2003.…”