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.
BackgroundNot much is known about the correlation between gaming problems and substance use across different countries. This paper presents cross-national analyses of different gaming indicators and their relationship to substance use.MethodsBased on data from the 2015 ESPAD study, differences in the relationship between gaming and substance use across 35 countries were analysed using multi-level logistic regression, using substance use as an individual level predictor, economic wealth as a country-level predictor and a combined problem gaming indicator as the outcome.ResultsMulti-level logistic regressions revealed significant correlations between individual substance use and gaming problems, which varied across countries and were moderated by economic wealth. Students who used alcohol, tobacco or cannabis and who lived in high-income countries had a smaller risk of scoring positively on a combined problem gaming indicator than students who used alcohol, tobacco or cannabis and who lived in less prosperous countries.DiscussionDifferent gaming indicators varied substantially across countries, with self-perceived gaming problems being more common in countries with a low prevalence of gaming. Significant cross-level effects demonstrate the need to take the societal context into account when the relationship between problem gaming and substance use is analysed. Prevention measures need to take the fact into account that patterns of substance use among problem gamers vary across countries.
Background: Adolescents and young adults are a crucial target group for preventing harm related to substance use. Recently, declining alcohol and tobacco consumption in young people has been observed in many countries. Based on survey data from 2004 to 2020, we describe time trends for several subgroups of adolescents and young adults (based on consumption levels and socioeconomic variables) and analyze associations between the level of alcohol per capita consumption or daily smoking and socioeconomic variables. Methods: Time trends for males and females are analyzed by a two-way ANOVA and predictors of use by using multivariate regression and logistic regression. Results: Alcohol per capita consumption decreased significantly for both sexes in the 16-year period, with male and female consumption levels converging. Daily smoking was equally prevalent for young males and females and decreased to a similar degree for both sexes. Being male and living in rural areas are associated with a higher level of alcohol consumption. Daily smoking is associated with a low level of education and is more prevalent among young adults who have already started to work. Conclusions: The decline in alcohol use and daily smoking among adolescents and young adults is taking place simultaneously. However, higher levels of alcohol consumption and daily smoking occur in different groups of adolescents and young adults, which should be considered in prevention strategies.
Zusammenfassung: Zielsetzung: Aus Anlass der Veröffentlichung der dritten Ausgabe des Buchs „Alkohol: Kein gewöhnliches Konsumgut“ haben die Autor_innen die Entwicklung des Pro-Kopf-Alkoholkonsums in Österreich mit der Alkoholpreisentwicklung, der Verfügbarkeit von alkoholischen Getränken sowie Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung von Alkohol am Steuer in Beziehung gesetzt. Methodik: Im Wesentlichen wurde auf Statistiken zurückgegriffen, die die Autor_innen seit vielen Jahren regelmäßig im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Gesundheit erheben – Statistiken, die in Forschungsberichten sowie im regelmäßig erscheinenden Handbuch Alkohol-Österreich einer breiten Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht werden. Ergebnisse: Über die letzten 50 Jahre zeichnet sich in Bezug auf den Alkoholkonsum eine rückläufige Tendenz ab. Bezüglich alkoholassoziierter Probleme zeichnet sich eine deutliche Verbesserung ab, obwohl in dieser Zeit die Alkoholpreise relativ zum zur Verfügung stehenden Einkommen stark gesunken sind und die Öffnungszeiten im Handel und in der Gastronomie stark ausgeweitet wurden. Das legt nahe, dass aus einer gesundheitspolitischen Warte positive Veränderungen der Alkoholkultur nicht nur durch Preiserhöhungen und Einschränkungen der Alkoholverfügbarkeit initiiert werden können. In Bezug auf Alkohol am Steuer hat der gesetzliche Druck auf alkoholisierte Kraftfahrzeuglenker_innen über die Jahre kontinuierlich zugenommen, und die alkoholbezogenen Unfälle haben parallel dazu abgenommen. Wenngleich man, wie in diesem Text ebenfalls gezeigt wird, aus Zusammenhängen nicht automatisch auf Kausalität schließen kann, erscheint es durchaus plausibel, dass diese gesetzlichen Maßnahmen einen relevanten Beitrag zur Verringerung des alkoholbedingten Unfallgeschehens geleistet haben.
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