Family Structure, Parent-Child Relationships, and Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Teenagers in France and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper compares samples of 15-16-year-olds from the UK and France on their usage of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs and also seeks to describe the associations between alcohol and other drug use with "family variables" within the two countries. Compared to UK adolescents, French adolescents showed a slightly higher rate of cigarette smoking, were almost identical on cannabis use, rather lower on the use of other illicit drugs and very considerably lower on alcohol use. Family variables were related to substance use. In the two countries, children from non-intact families, those who were not satisfied with their relationships with their father or mother and those who were less closely monitored, were more likely to be heavy substance users than other students. Logistic regressions showed that parental knowledge of the whereabouts of their offspring on Saturday evenings was the strongest factor, in both countries, that family structure is frequently still significant in the UK, and that paternal relationships are highly significant among French students. Differences in national drinking culture, urbanization and parental practices are discussed in an attempt to interpret some of these findings.

High prevalence rates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use in adolescents and young adults in France: Results from the GAZEL Youth study

“…Age differences in tobacco, alcohol, and drug use Consistent with prior research, we found that rates of adolescent alcohol use and abuse increase with age (Choquet et al, 2000;Ledoux et al, 2002). …”

“…In France, women perceive alcohol and drug use as more risky than men ) and women's substance use is less well accepted than men's (Ledoux et al, 2002). Yet it is notable that rates of alcohol and drug use in girls have been rising over time, resulting in the progressive narrowing of the sex gap .…”

“…French youths are also more likely than youths from 4 Northern European countries to concurrently use several psychoactive substances Hibell et al, 2000). However, past research either focused on school-aged adolescents (ages 14-18) Choquet et al, 2000;Ledoux et al, 2002) or combined adolescents and young adults into one broad category (ages 15-25) (INPES, 2001) and patterns of substance use among young adults in France have not been documented.…”

Child and adolescent externalizing behavior and cannabis use disorders in early adulthood: An Australian prospective birth cohort study

“…For example, it has been suggested that externalizing behavior in children may have a negative impact on parent-child communication and bonding (Reed & Dubow, 1997), which in turn has been found to be associated with the later use of illicit drugs by the children (Ledoux, Miller, Choquet, & Plant, 2002). Alternatively, children with a high level of externalizing behavior are more prone to drop out of school and to poor educational attainment (Moffitt & Silva, 1987), which may lead to early substance use (King et al, 2004), and in turn, be associated with CUD in early adulthood.…”

Parent-Adolescent Interactions and Substance Use: A Prospective, Observational Study of Mexican-Origin Families

“…Meta-analytic evidence indicates that a positive parent-adolescent relationship predicts later initiation of alcohol use, and less problematic alcohol use later in life [14]. There is also evidence that parent-adolescent relationship quality predicts future use of tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit substances [15,16]. Moreover, intervention programs that improve the quality of the parent-child relationship have been shown to delay the onset and reduce the rate of substance use [17].…”