EUROPEAN SCHOOL SURVEY PROJECT ON ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS (ESPAD)

New ESPAD study shows overall stable drug use among school students and a reduction in ‘heavy episodic drinking’, but no decrease in cigarette smoking

Overall, there has been a reduction in binge drinking (heavy episodic drinking), and the use of illicit drugs among 15–16-year-old school students appears to have stabilised, according to the latest European study of this group published by the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs (ESPAD).

The report is based on a 2011 survey in 36 European countries. This was the fifth data-collection wave conducted by the ESPAD project, with multi-national surveys carried out every four years since 1995. Over 100,000 school students took part in the latest survey. Of the countries participating, 23 were EU Member States.

The 2011 ESPAD data show that over three-quarters of school students (79%) had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months and over half (57%) in the last 30 days, continuing the small decreases witnessed since 2003. In total, 11 countries reported a fall in alcohol use over the past 30 days and in ‘heavy episodic drinking’ over the same period (the latter had increased by 8 percentage points between 1995 and 2007). Also reported is the small decrease to 38% in this drinking pattern among girls, in contrast to the striking increase seen in the last round of the survey (29% in 2003, rising to 41% in 2007). Among boys, the figure was also slightly lower in 2011 (43% compared with 45% in 2007). Across 22 countries, more boys than girls still report ‘heavy episodic drinking’ in the past 30 days, although the gender gap shrank from 12 percentage points in 1995 to five in 2011.

The new survey results also show that the increase seen in the use of illicit drugs among this age group in ESPAD countries between 1995 and 2003 has since stalled, with the average prevalence remaining unchanged at 18% between 2007 and 2011 (11% in 1995; 20% in 2003). The overall trend in cigarette smoking in the last 30 days in the participating countries also remained unchanged between 2007 and 2011, following decreases between 1999 (35%) and 2007 (28%). In the countries with data from all five surveys, 29% had smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days.

EMCDDA Director Wolfgang Götz said: “Through its repeated surveys, the ESPAD project offers us a crucial window onto country differences and changes in adolescent substance use in Europe. Today’s report underlines an important commitment to monitoring and understanding substance use in this important adolescent population and provides valuable data for further analysis. The EMCDDA presents a summary of the ESPAD findings as part of an enhanced and multilingual dissemination strategy of the project’s results. This essential data will help inform policy makers, promote scientific understanding and facilitate the development of effective interventions for young and vulnerable school students across Europe.”

ESPAD surveys are available for 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011. http://www.espad.org/en/Reports--Documents/ESPAD-Reports/