Although the short and long-term health risks of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use is well known, they still remain a public health concern in the UK amongst young people, with risks ranging from accidental injuries, to violence, sexual ill-health and elevated rates of chronic conditions as well as premature death.
Regardless of directing various policies at reducing substance use amongst children in the UK, the number of those who take substances is still considerable. For instance, in 2009 in the UK, 180,000 children between the ages of 11 to 15 years regularly smoked tobacco, whilst 540,000 had consumed alcohol in the previous week, and 250,000 had taken drugs in the previous month.
A new study in the Journal of Public Health reveals that receiving free school meals and a feeling of wellbeing is linked to substance use in children and young people. Youngsters who report being happy or are able to communicate with their family instead of their friends are less likely to use substances, whilst children of older age and those who receive free school meals are linked to a higher chance of substance use.
Siobhan Farmer and Dr. Barbara Hanratty from the University of Liverpool, examined the association between substance use, subjective wellbeing and socioeconomic status in schoolchildren aged from 10 to 15 years, who attended schools in two local authorities in the North West of England. The study was entitled ‘The relationship between subjective wellbeing, low income and substance use among schoolchildren in the north west of England: a cross-sectional study’.
The researchers analyzed the Tellus4 dataset, which is a national, anonymous, school-based cross sectional survey for children in year 6, 8 and 10, i.e. children aged between 10 and 15 years, which included responses of 3,903 children from two local authorities, representing 1.2% of the national sample, with about equal distribution across all year groups.
One of the study’s key findings was that age was the most important predictor of substance use, with children aged 12 and 13 years being between two and six times more likely to misuse substances compared with 10 to 11 year olds and 14 to 15 year olds being eleven and twenty-nine times more likely. They found that smoking was linked to using other substances. They also observed that the number of children who smoked more than one cigarette per week was much higher amongst those who regularly used drugs and alcohol, as compared with those who had no experience of either. Smoking more than one cigarette was, furthermore, negatively related to the children’s level of happiness and being able to communicate with their parents. Children who reported feeling unhappy had a 18.4% higher chance of having tried cigarettes, 44.8% higher chance of having drunk alcohol and 6.4% more likely to have tried drugs, compared with those who felt happy.
Whilst three-quarters of happy students reported they communicated with their parents, only half of those who said they felt unhappy could do so. The researchers highlighted the fact that children who reported having a better relationship with their friends had a 40% higher risk of using substances compared with those who reported poor relationships.
About one in five children, or 18.2% were eligible for free school meals in the study. Those eligible had a higher likelihood of reporting they were unhappy, as compared with those who were not eligible. They also felt less able to talk to their friends or parents, and had a lower chance of stating to have one or more good friends. About 31.6% or one-third of children eligible for free school meals reported to smoke at least once, compared with one-fifth of non-eligible children. Slightly more than one in four or 25.9% who reported to consume alcohol admitted they were drunk once or more often within the last 4 weeks, compared to one in five or 19.5% who was not eligible for school meals. The findings furthermore revealed that children between the ages of 12 to 15 years who were eligible for free school meals tended to have a more than two-times higher likelihood of having tried drugs than those who did not.
The gender variation in substance use was 23.5% of girls who reporting trying a cigarette as compared with 20.5% of boys, with no considerable difference noted in those smoking more than one cigarette per week.
Considerably more boys than girls reported to have tried both alcohol and drugs, with 4% stating they had an alcoholic beverage and almost double the amount of boys stating they had experimented with drugs. This trend was observed to be consistent across all age groups with the exception of alcohol use in year 10, where girls were 3% more likely than boys to have tried alcohol. Girls also had a higher tendency of having been drunk in the previous four weeks, with almost twice as many girls in year 10, i.e. 19.5% compared to 11.5% having reported that they were drunk at least three times. 3% of girls felt less able to communicate with their parents and 7% stated they felt unhappy as compared with boys.
Siobhan Farmer concludes:
“Our findings show that a sense of wellbeing and the use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes are associated with each other. The connection between substance use and free school meals also suggests that policies need to address income inequality and environmental factors that affect children’s use of drugs. Our research suggests that addressing income inequality and environmental factors may be an essential adjunct to intervention in children to reduce inequalities associated with substance use and enhance the health and wellbeing of young people in the UK.”
Written By Grace Rattue