Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

There is limited research on combined use of cigarettes, snus and e-cigarettes in the Nordic countries. This study will investigate whether this pattern of use occurs among adolescents in Norway. In addition, we will investigate the association between combined use of several tobacco products, e-cigarettes and socio-demographic and psychosocial factors (SPF).

A school-based cross-sectional survey of adolescents in the 8th to the 12th grade (N = 875) in 2014. Information on the use of cigarettes, snus, e-cigarettes and SPF was collected using an electronic questionnaire.

Of the adolescents, 31% reported having tried or used one or more tobacco product and/or e-cigarette. Of these, over half reported having tried or used one product, 1/3 two products and 1/10 three products. There were more boys among poly-users (63%) than among single-users (44%). Compared to single-users, poly-users also reported weaker school performance (30% and 11%, respectively), more often reported drinking alcohol to intoxication (91% and 75%, respectively), and having tried cannabis (28% and 9%, respectively). Poly-users also scored higher on impulsivity, sensation-seeking and depression.

The study shows that combined use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes occurs among young people in Norway. Such use was associated with psychosocial and socio-demographic risk factors. There is a need to investigate this phenomenon in more details in representative samples.

It is often assumed that illicit drug use has become normalised in the Western world, as evidenced for example by increased prevalence rates and drug-liberal notions in both socially advantaged and disadvantaged youth populations. There is accumulating research on the characteristics of young illicit drug users from high-prevalence countries, but less is known about the users in countries where use is less common. There is reason to assume that drug users in low-prevalence countries may be more disadvantaged than their counterparts in high-prevalence countries, and that the normalisation thesis perhaps does not apply to the former context.

This article aims to explore to what extent such assertions hold true by studying the characteristics of young illicit drug users in Sweden, where prevalence is low and drug policy centres on zero tolerance.

We draw on a subsample (n = 3374) of lifetime users of illicit drugs from four waves of a nationally representative sample of students in 9th and 11th grade (2012–2015). Latent class analysis (LCA) on ten indicators pertaining to illicit drug use identified four classes which we termed “Marijuana testers”, “Marijuana users”, “Cannabinoid users” and “Polydrug users”.

Indications of social advantage/disadvantage such as peer drug use, early substance-use debut and truancy varied across groups, particularly between “Marijuana testers” (low scores) and “Polydrug users” (high scores).

Our findings corroborate the idea that the majority of those who have used illicit drugs in the Swedish youth population have tried marijuana a few times only. We discuss whether or not the comparably large share of socially advantaged “Marijuana testers” in a comparably small sample of lifetime users can be interpreted as a sort of normalisation in a prohibitionist drug policy context.

To determine the association of sociodemographic characteristics and type of alcoholic beverage consumed during binge drinking in Serbia.

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2014 national survey on Serbian lifestyles focusing on substance abuse and gambling. The sample consisted of 5385 individuals. The respondents were divided into non-binge drinkers and binge drinkers, according to the quantity of alcohol consumed during one occasion. Binge drinkers reported consuming more than 60 g of pure alcohol (7.5 units of alcohol) during one occasion at least once during the previous year.

The prevalence of binge drinking in the past year among 2676 female and 2709 male participants aged 18–64 years was 28.4%. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that binge drinkers were more likely to be male (95% CI 3.58–4.94), single (95% CI 1.01–1.53), to be former (95% CI 1.06–1.62) or current smokers (95% CI 1.57–2.19), and to consume more than one type of alcoholic beverage (95% CI 2.04–3.44). There was a negative association of binge drinking with age (95% CI 0.98–0.99), living outside Northern Serbia-Vojvodina region, and drinking only spirits (95% CI 0.39–0.93).

Focusing on the positive association of sociodemographic factors and binge drinking could help policy makers create public health interventions against alcohol misuse. These interventions should be directed to males, smokers, and those who consume more than one type of alcoholic beverage.

High alcohol consumption among young adults is of great concern. About half of all young adults in Sweden are university students, and high alcohol consumption is common in this group. This makes student unions a potential arena for alcohol prevention. Little is known about attitudes toward alcohol prevention and to what extent Swedish student unions have written alcohol policies. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether student union representatives consider alcohol to be a problem, their attitudes toward alcohol prevention, the presence of written alcohol policies at student unions, and factors possibly associated with the existence of such policies.

During November 2014, student union representatives (n = 95) were invited to participate in a web-based questionnaire; data were obtained from 78 unions.

The majority (93%) reported positive attitudes toward alcohol prevention, and many also recognised that alcohol consumption could be a problem (47%). Furthermore, 81% reported having an alcohol policy at their student union. Unions that frequently arranged pubs were more likely to have a policy (OR = 1.9).

Many participants recognised that alcohol consumption could be a problem and reported positive attitudes toward alcohol prevention in the student union setting. This, together with the fact that the majority of student unions had written alcohol policies, suggests that the student union setting is a promising arena for alcohol prevention.