Exploring substance use normalization among adolescents: A multilevel study in 35 countries

Cannabis Use and Its Social Correlates among In-School Adolescents in Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Peru, and Tonga

“…In agreement with previous studies (Legleye et al, 2012;Sznitman et al, 2013;Tu et al 2008), this study found that male gender and lower economic status were associated with cannabis use. The gender difference may possibly be attributed to social norms that tend to stigmatize girls over boys who engage in cannabis use and to a higher risk taken behaviour among boys than girls (Alwan et al, 2011;Croisant, Haque Laz, Rahman & Berenson, 2013).…”

“…In this study of in-school adolescents in six low and middle income countries from different regions (North Africa, South America, Near and Middle East, Oceania) the overall lifetime cannabis use and current cannabis use was found to be lower than in previous studies in Europe, North America and sub-Saharan Africa (Alwan et al, 2011;Piomyek et al, 2013;Richter et al, 2012;Siziya et al, 2013;Sznitman et al, 2013;Tu et al, 2008). The study further found country variations in cannabis use, with lifetime and current cannabis use being the highest in Tonga (7.5% and 6.8%, respectively) compared to any other of the five study countries.…”

“…Cannabis use among adolescents has been reported as 8.1% past month in 35 European and Northamerican countries (Sznitman et al, 2013), 14.6% past year in 32 European countries (Piontek, Kraus, Bjarnason, Demetrovics & Ramstedt, 2013), with variations from 27.5% in Czech Republic in the past year, 11% in Germany used cannabis in the last 12 months (Richter, Pförtner, Lampert & HBSC-Team Deutschland, 2012) and in Canada 47% had used cannabis in their lifetime (Tu, Ratner & Johnson, 2008). Regarding cannabis use in low and middle income countries, some studies have reported 37.2% ever-used cannabis in Zambia (Siziya et al, 2013) and 19.2% among boys and 3.7% among girls had used cannabis in the past month in the Seychelles (Alwan, Viswanathan, Rousson, Paccaud & Bovet, 2011).…”

“…Risk factors for cannabis use among adolescents have been identified as follows: 1) sociodemographic factors (male gender Sznitman et al, 2013;Tu et al 2008; younger age (Siziya et al, 2013), lower economic status (Legleye, Beck, Khlat, Peretti-Watel & Chau, 2012;Tu et al, 2008); 2) Other drug use (alcohol, Faeh, Viswanathan, Chiolero, Warren & Bovet, 2006;Siziya et al, 2013;Tu et al, 2008;smokers, Faeh et al, 2006;Tu et al, 2008); 3) Other health risk behaviours (Bullying/fighting (Siziya et al, 2013;Sznitman et al, 2013); truancy (Alwan et al 2001); history of having engaged in sexual intercourse (Siziya et al, 2013); Dietary factors (high-fat food intake, Arcan, Kubik, Fulkerson, Hannan & Story, 2011;not being obese, Hayatbakhsh, O'Callaghan, Mamun, Williams, Clavarino & Najman, 2010); low levels of physical activity (Delisle, Werch, Wong, Bian & Weiler, 2010); 5) Injury (Barrio, Jiménez-Mejías, Pulido, Lardelli-Claret, Bravo MJ & de la Fuente, 2012); 5) Psychosocial factors (Alwan et al, 2011), and 6) Parental and school factors (Siziya et al, 2013;Sznitman et al, 2013;Tu et al, 2008).…”

“Skittles & Red Bull is my favourite flavour”: E-cigarettes, smoking, vaping and the changing landscape of nicotine consumption amongst British teenagers – implications for the normalisation debate

“…The researchers, having previously calculated that population prevalence rates above 40% could be interpreted as evidence for normalisation (Sznitman et al, 2013), concluded that adolescent smoking was associated with cumulative multiple risk factors rather than population level prevalence. They did find, however, that smoking became more common in low risk youth when population prevalence increased although not in high risk youth.…”