Abstract
Purpose
To compare prevalence estimates of adolescents' cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use
from one Australian and two U.S. surveys, and to consider the effect of methodological
differences on reported use.
Methods
Secondary analysis of data from the Australian Child and Adolescent Component of the
National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being (NSMHWB, 1998), the U.S. Youth Risk
Behavior Survey (YRBS, 1999), and National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA,
1998). Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals were derived for three substance
use behaviors. Differences between estimates were considered statistically significant
if the 95% confidence intervals did not overlap.
Results
When Australian and U.S. adolescents were compared using NSMHWB and YRBS data, the
former were generally found to be less likely to report using cigarettes, alcohol
and marijuana than the latter. However, when NHSDA was used as the comparator, the
prevalence of substance use among Australian adolescents was either no different from,
or greater than, that of U.S. adolescents. Likely explanations for the discrepant
findings include the population focus (i.e., whether the survey targeted only young
people or adults as well), sampling issues (i.e., whether school-based and household-based
sampling frames introduced different biases in terms of who was likely to be absent
when the survey was administered), response rates, the survey context (i.e., whether
school-based and household-based survey administration methods promoted different
kinds of response behavior), the wording of questions and the precision of estimates
of the different surveys.
Conclusions
Cross-national data on adolescent substance use should be interpreted cautiously.
Cross-national comparisons that are done well (i.e., using standard, uniform approaches)
can be invaluable in highlighting worthwhile policy directions; cross-national comparisons
that are done poorly may lead to erroneous assumptions.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Adolescent HealthAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- National Drug Strategic Framework 1998–99 to 2002–03: A Strategy to Reduce the Harm Caused by Drugs in Our Community.Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra1998
- The National Drug Control Strategy.Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, DC2001
- The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.J Sch Health. 1997; 67: 333-335
- Epidemiology of substance use in adolescence.Drug Alc Depend. 1999; 55: 187-207
- Prevalence of youth substance use.Drug Alc Depend. 1997; 47: 19-30
- Adolescent sexual behavior.Fam Plann Perspect. 2000; 32: 156-165
- The mental health of young people in Australia.Aust NZ J Psychiatry. 2001; 35: 806-814
- Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1999. State and local YRBSS Coordinators.J Sch Health. 2000; 70: 271-285
- 1998 National Survey on Drug Abuse.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD1999
- The Monitoring the Future Project After Twenty-Two Years.Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI1996
SUDAAN [computer program]. Version 7.5.4. Research Triangle Park, NC; 2000
- Clinical Epidemiology.Little, Brown and Company, Boston1991
- Choice of research setting in understanding adolescent health problems.J Adolesc Health. 1995; 17: 306-313
- Asking sensitive questions.Public Opin Q. 1996; 60: 275-304
- Initiation of cigarette smoking and subsequent smoking behavior among U.S.high school students. Prev Med. 1999; 29: 327-333
- Putting harm reduction into an adolescent context.J Paediatr Child Health. 2001; 37: 5-8
- Tobacco use by youth.Bull World Health Organ. 2000; 78: 868-876
- The Health of Youth. A Cross-National Survey.World Health Organization, Geneva1996
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 10,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
