Substance use seems to be increasing among 11 year olds

Editor—Plant and Miller report that illicit drug use has declined since they carried out a survey in 1995.¹ Their overall findings are broadly in agreement with similar work undertaken by Goddard and Higgins² and by us. Goddard and Higgins reported that 7% of 11-15 year olds said that they had used illicit drugs within the past month and that prevalence increased sharply with age, from no recent use at age 11 to 18% at age 15.

Our data were collected among 11-16 year olds by self report questionnaire during the latter part of 1999 and the first three months of 2000 from a stratified sample of 28 schools in England (n=9742). We found that regular, monthly, illicit drug use rose from 1.0% at age 11 to 14.5% at age 16, with an overall mean of 5.5%. Highest illicit drug use was by 15 year old boys (16.8%) (figure).

We also found that daily cigarette smoking rose from 4.8% at age 11 to 24.1% at age 16; mean use was 11.7%. More girls than boys smoked (13.7% v 9.5%), with peak use being by 16 year old girls (31.2%). In contrast, Goddard and Higgins found that only 1% of 11 year olds claimed to be regular smokers.

Our data showed that regular, weekly, alcohol drinking rose from 5.1% at age 11 to 36.0% at 16; mean use was 14.5%. Alcohol was drunk more by boys than by girls (16.4% v 12.8%). Highest use was by 16 year old boys, 42.6% of whom said they drank at least weekly. Goddard and Higgins reported that only 3% of 11 year olds in their sample drank on a weekly basis.

Overall substance use by adolescents, both licit and illicit, seems to be declining. These data may, however, indicate a general increase in substance use by 11 and 12 year old children against a background of an overall decrease by 13-16 year olds.

Figure.

Percentage of adolescents using cigarettes (daily), alcohol (weekly), and illicit drugs (monthly)