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Substance users more likely to know risks of use than abstainers

Men who used substances such as alcohol, cannabis and tobacco appeared to be more informed of the risks associated with their use than abstainers, according to new research.

"Having a good knowledge about the risks of substances alone doesn't prevent young men from adopting or continuing to have a risky substance use behavior," study researcher Petra Dermota, MSc, of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, said in an interview.

Dermota, along with Meichun Mohler-Kuo, MS, ScD, and colleagues assessed 11,930 Swiss males aged 17 to 26 years for their knowledge of the risks associated with substance use. Participants completed 10-minute questionnaires on demographics, substance use and health literacy.

Approximately 22% of participants searched the Internet for health information, whereas 16% reported searching the Internet to learn more about addictive substances during the past 12 months. Men who used substances were much more likely than abstainers to search for information about addictive substances, and at-risk users were significantly more likely than men who were not at risk to search for information about alcohol (adjusted OR: 2.50 vs. 1.46), tobacco (adjusted OR=2.51 vs. 1.79) and cannabis (adjusted OR=4.86 vs. 3.53).

 

Meichun Mohler-Kuo

Most public health campaigns are designed to provide information to deter substance use, according to the researchers, which may be ineffective considering the results point to a population of substance users that is both savvy and well-informed.

"Future research should focus on creating and evaluating interventions that vary according to content and target group, such as the well-informed young user," Dermota said. "Developing other skills like critical thinking and interactive skills, media literacy skills, lifelike and problem solving skills may be of even higher importance for young, well-informed men."

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.