Co-use of Alcohol and Tobacco Among Ninth-Graders in Louisiana

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Johnson, Carolyn C. ; Webber, Larry S. ; Myers, Leann ; Boris, Neil W. ; Berenson, Gerald S.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  The co-use of alcohol and tobacco by adolescents is a public health problem that continues well into adulthood and results in negative behavioral, social, and health consequences. The purpose of this study was to examine the co-use of alcohol and tobacco among ninth-graders in south-central Louisiana.
  
  Methods
  
  We created a health habits survey to collect data from 4,750 ninth-grade students, mean age 15.4 years. Cross-sectional analysis used χ2, 1-way analysis of variance, and logistic regression methods.
  
  Results
  
  Almost 20% of students were co-users. Students who were white, performed poorly in school, did not expect to graduate high school, and had more discretionary money to spend were more likely to be co-users. Co-users had friends who got drunk weekly and were more likely to approve of alcohol use among friends than among adults. Significant differences in attitudes toward drinking and smoking were observed between co-users and nonusers. For adolescent drinkers, including girls, hard liquor was the preferred beverage.
  
  Conclusion
  
  These data for high school students are applicable for prevention strategies at a critical age when harmful health behaviors can mark the start of lifelong habits. Intervention efforts will be successful only if they account for multiple levels of influence.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adolescent Behavior Alcohol Drinking Black Or African American Child Cross-Sectional Studies Female Health Surveys Humans Life Style Male Prevalence Smoking White People Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 6(3).
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  6
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9e92ded1957b4032e47ebe4d730c107b8d216c88240436c84708afbc0492331cfc9522cc7728a2ae1c70973c24e2b4013f94b9fa30b2b8043dead906f6492679
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20375/cdc_20375_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 482.51 KB ]