Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, And Illicit Drug Use Among Adolescents In The U.S.
Rasaki Aranmolate¹, Michael Rutalia², Stanley Akubue³, Obafemi Sanni⁴, Theresa Aranmolate⁵
¹˒³Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS ²Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
⁴University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry, Accra, Ghana
⁵College of Nursing & Health Professions, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
Adolescents have a higher risk for the onset of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drug consumption. The purpose of this study was to examine alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among adolescents in the U.S. We obtained data from high school youth risk behavior surveillance system (YRBSS) and a cross-sectional survey of 38,887 participants aged 13–17 years old were conducted. The number of questionnaires analyzed was 14,407 in case of smoking, 10,874 used illicit drugs, and 13,606 consumed alcohol. The percentage of self-reported smoking, alcohol consumption and illicit drug use was analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear regression. The prevalence of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs was examined according to gender, age group, and race/ethnicity. Analyses were performed using SAS 9.4. The use of alcohol was 15.5%, cigarette smoking was 9.5%, and illicit drugs use was 6.6%. The average age of onset was 11–13 years old. Alcohol use in male was 18.2% and 12.8% in female, smoking in male (10.9%) and female (8.0%), hence the use of illicit drug was 16.0% in male and 9.8% in female. Blacks have higher rates of alcohol (10.8%), smoking (14.9%), and illicit drug (8.1%) consumption compared to white (8.9%, 14.0% & 10.2% respectively). More than 28% of participants smoked in school, and 29.8% used alcohol and 14.8% accessed illicit drugs at school. More adolescents are consuming alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs despite several preventive programs. Increased awareness, enforcement of existing and implementation of preventive programs.