Alcohol and Drug Use Among European 17-18 Year Old Students

The three large ESPAD (The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) surveys that were conducted in 1995, 1999 and 2003 investigated the use of alcohol and other drugs among students aged 15–16 (Hibell, Andersson et al 1997, Hibell, Andersson et al 2000, Hibell, Andersson et al 2004). Over the years an increasing number of countries have joined the
project and in the last survey 35 European countries collaborated on data collections on nationally representative samples.

The number of countries included in this study is limited but represent different parts of Europe. On many variables France and Sweden appear as opposite poles regarding alcohol consumption and drug use. The French students drink little and seldom get drunk, while the prevalence of cannabis consumption is high. In Sweden, on the other hand, drunkenness is frequent, but the prevalence of illicit drug use, mainly cannabis, is the lowest among the countries included in this study.

Overall, the results indicate that the tobacco, alcohol and drug use pattern among students aged 17–18 varies a great deal between the seven countries included in this study. For example, almost half of the students are more or less habitual smokers, except in Sweden where this is truefo r about one third.

Rather few – one fifth or less – had been drinking alcohol 10 times or more during the past 30 days, especially in Sweden. Drunkenness, on the other hand, is much more frequent among the Swedish students in comparison, but especially in relation to the Mediterranean countries, which are very low on this variable.

It is difficult to draw any conclusions from the pattern of alcohol consumption and drunkenness. It seems as if the Swedish students were more inclined to declare a high frequency of intoxication than students in other countries, despite the fact that they drink less often. The binge drinking frequency, however, is a little bit higher among the Swedes than among students in the other countries, but still not far from average.

The lifetime prevalence of illicit drug use, however, gives a picture rather opposite to the alcohol variables. France, which is generally low on most alcohol variables, is dominating the picture with 6 out of 10 students reporting use of cannabis. Italy is the country that comes closest to this, but is still lower (4 out of 10). In contrast, the use of illicit drugs other than cannabis is generally much lower in all the countries under study.

To analyse why some students refrain from alcohol and/or alcohol intoxication, but consume illicit drugs such as cannabis would be an important contribution to the understanding of the formation of drug habits among people this age.

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