Table 2.
Associations between socioeconomic characteristics and the three key adverse substance use outcomes
| Risk factor | Category | Alcohol behavioural problems | Cannabis moderate use | Tobacco weekly use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | White | 454 (9.5%) | 452 (9.4%) | 497 (10.2%) |
| Non-white | 23 (10.2%) | 29 (12.8%) | 26 (11.4%) | |
| P | 0.705 | 0.090 | 0.570 | |
| Maternal age at delivery | <25 years | 88 (11.6%) | 74 (9.6%) | 120 (15.5%) |
| 25–29 | 173 (8.9%) | 157 (8.1%) | 206 (10.5%) | |
| 30–34 | 157 (9.2%) | 163 (9.5%) | 148 (8.6%) | |
| 35+ years | 62 (9.7%) | 91 (14.2%) | 54 (8.4%) | |
| P | 0.192 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | |
| Housing tenure | Mortgaged/owned | 364 (8.8%) | 373 (9%) | 386 (9.3%) |
| Privately rented | 38 (10.7%) | 41 (11.6%) | 44 (12.2%) | |
| Subsidized housing | 62 (15.4%) | 53 (13.1%) | 74 (18.0%) | |
| P | < 0.001 | 0.012 | < 0.001 | |
| Parity | 1st child | 193 (8.1%) | 201 (8.4%) | 219 (9.0%) |
| 2nd | 186 (11.0%) | 174 (10.3%) | 181 (10.6%) | |
| 3rd or greater | 82 (10.4%) | 94 (11.8%) | 97 (12.0%) | |
| P | 0.004 | 0.008 | 0.031 | |
| Maternal education† | > O-level | 183 (8.1%) | 233 (10.3%) | 164 (7.2%) |
| O-level | 179 (10.6%) | 145 (8.5%) | 212 (12.4%) | |
| < O-level | 103 (11.0%) | 94 (10.0%) | 127 (13.4%) | |
| P | 0.007 | 0.147 | < 0.001 | |
| Equivalized income | Top 20% | 98 (9.1%) | 101 (9.3%) | 79 (7.2%) |
| Middle 60% | 243 (9.0%) | 253 (9.4%) | 278 (10.2%) | |
| Bottom 20% | 80 (12.4%) | 77 (11.9%) | 93 (14.1%) | |
| P | 0.027 | 0.131 | < 0.001 | |
| Parental social class | Professional | 52 (6.5%) | 70 (8.8%) | 43 (5.4%) |
| Managerial/technical | 197 (9.3%) | 216 (10.1%) | 212 (9.9%) | |
| Skilled non-manual | 100 (9.2%) | 87 (7.9%) | 120 (10.8%) | |
| Skilled manual or lower | 78 (13.1%) | 61 (10.2%) | 93 (15.3%) | |
| P | 0.001 | 0.172 | < 0.001 | |
| Home over-crowding | <= 1 person/room | 437 (9.4%) | 432 (9.3%) | 454 (9.6%) |
| > 1 person/room | 26 (14.6%) | 28 (15.7%) | 44 (24.4%) | |
| P | 0.020 | 0.004 | < 0.001 |
Table shows chi-square tests of association between demographic measures and each binary indicator of problematic substance use.
†
: O-levels were an examination taken around the age of 16 years at the end of compulsory schooling. They have been replaced by GCSE’s.