Age at initiation of drug use as an indicator for problematic use
- Hernández López, Teresa
- Roldán Fernández, Jesús
- Jiménez Frutos, Anunciación
- Mora Rodríguez, Carlos
- Escarpa Sánchez-Garnica, Dolores
- Pérez Alvarez, María Teresa
ISSN: 1137-9685
Année de publication: 2010
Número: 14
Pages: 22-31
Type: Article
D'autres publications dans: Psychology in Spain
Résumé
The aim of our research was to study the relationship between early initiation of tobacco, alcohol and drug use and problematic use in a sample of 6280 young people from Madrid with an age range of 15-24. Early experimentation with tobacco, alcohol (prior to age 14) or cannabis (prior to age 15) is related to higher prevalence of daily tobacco smoking and cannabis use, to daily-average abusive drinking patterns and to either regular polyconsumption or concurrent consumption of 2 or more drugs in the last month. An association was also found with negative consequences of alcohol and drug use for financial, academic and family aspects. This research reveals that the strength of the associations increases as the number of substances with early first use increases. Since this is the case for almost all the associations studied, it would seem relevant in future studies to consider analyzing early initiation of use based on groups of substances.