Tobacco use: the main predictor of illicit substances use among young adolescents in Sousse, Tunisia

Abstract

Introduction Early adolescence is a critical period usually associated with experimentation with illicit substances. In Tunisia few studies explored these risk behaviors among young adolescents. Aims To evaluate the prevalence and the predictors of the use of illicit substances among the young adolescents of Sousse. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the region of Sousse, Tunisia during the 2013/2014 school year among 4272 schoolchildren in 16 public middle schools. Data about psychosocial characteristics and risk behaviors among the schoolchildren, their parents, their siblings and their friends were collected anonymously using a self-administrated questionnaire. Results Females represented 50.5% of participants. The mean age of schoolchildren was 13.3 (±1.2) years. Lifetime illicit substances use prevalence was 2.9% [confidence interval (CI) 95%: (2.4%–3.4%)] and lifetime use of tobacco prevalence was 12.9% [CI 95%: (11.9%–13.9%)]. The age of tobacco onset was significantly younger to the age of experimentation with illicit substances. Insomnia, sadness and illicit substances use among peers were associated with illicit substances use among participants. While the most influential risk factor on illicit substances use was current cigarette smoking with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 7.2 [CI 95%: (4.5–11.2)]. Conclusion A national substances use prevention program should be implemented in the schools of Tunisia with an emphasis on tobacco use prevention.

Surveillance of tobacco use among young adolescents: trends and predictors across three years in Sousse, Tunisia

“…Concerning lifetime use of illicit substances, the prevalence level across the 3 years of survey was not far from that reported in previous Tunisian studies [ 21 , 29 ] and in some southern Mediterranean countries but it remains lower than that in United States and northern Mediterranean countries [ 24 , 25 , 29 ].…”

Tobacco Use and Its Association with Mental Morbidity and Health Compromising Behaviours in Adolescents in Indonesia

“…Alcohol use is known to be a comorbidity of tobacco use (Konkolÿ et al, 2016;Peltzer and Pengpid, 2018), and this study showed a very high association between tobacco and alcohol use. It is possible that tobacco users that are likely to deny the harms of tobacco use are also likely to deny the risks of other health risk behaviours (Zammit et al, 2018). Tobacco use may be utilized by students to cope with psychosocial problems, as a form of "self-medication" (Mathew et al, 2017;Tomori et al, 2001).…”

“…Some studies found a probable association between tobacco use and mental distress in young people (Chaiton et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2018;Peltzer and Pengpid, 2017;Saravanan and Heidhy, 2014), including suicidal ideation and suicide attempts (Han et al, 2009;Järvelaid, 2004;Lee et al, 2018;Tomori et al, 2001). Several studies found a relationship between tobacco use and alcohol use (Fujita and Maki, 2018;Tomori et al, 2001;Wang et al 2017), and illicit drug use (Zammit et al, 2018;Tomori et al, 2001).…”

Tobacco use and associated mental symptoms and health risk behaviours amongst individuals 15 years or older in South Africa

“… 16 Many studies found an association between tobacco use and alcohol consumption, 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 hazardous alcohol use 15 , 22 and illicit drug use. 23 …”