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In November 2023, the Danish Government and four political parties agreed on a new prevention plan to reduce the use of tobacco, nicotine, and alcohol among adolescents in Denmark. The plan addresses the high rates of alcohol consumption and the increasing use of nicotine products among Danish adolescents. However, some experts argue that the plan falls short in certain areas, such as not raising the age limit for alcohol sales to adolescents and not increasing prices on cigarettes. They believe that more comprehensive policy changes and involvement from multiple actors are needed to effectively reduce substance use among adolescents. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: The Timeline Followback (TLFB) is a widely used and well-validated interview-based tool for assessing patterns of recent health risk behavior. There is some evidence of the validity of the TLFB as a self-administered online tool for assessing alcohol use, but further research is needed to establish its validity in younger populations and populations outside the United States. Further, it is unknown how self-administered online TLFB formats compare to more timesaving and commonly used single-item alcohol questions. The primary aim of the current study was to validate a new online, self-administered TLFB for alcohol use against the TLFB interview in a sample of European (Danish) adolescents aged 16–18  years (N =  30). Methods: Participants completed a TLFB telephone interview, a self-administered online version of the TLFB, and single-item alcohol questions. Assessments were administered using a within-subject, counter-balanced design. Estimates of number of drinking days, binge-drinking days, maximum drinks consumed on one occasion, total drinks, and drinks per drinking day were compared across metrics. Results: All correlations between the drinking outcomes assessed via the TLFB interview and the TLFB online were positive, and statistically significant (rss  =  0.86– 0.94, p <  0.01). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed no significant differences between the TLFB interview and the TLFB online on drinking days, binge drinking days, max drinks, and total drinks. Participants reported drinking significantly more drinks per drinking day on the TLFB online (M  =  4.66) compared to on the TLFB interview (M  =  4.12; p =  0.009). Conclusion: Overall, the results support the validity of the online, self-administered TLFB in a sample of European (Danish) adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent drinking has historically been closely linked to social events, and across many countries, students typically increase drinking rates when they transition to upper secondary school. COVID-19-related restrictions offered a unique possibility to examine how changes in social life impact adolescent drinking in the transition to upper secondary school. Aim: The current study investigated changes in hazardous alcohol use, social life and well-being among Danish first-year students (mean age = 16.8 years) during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when restrictions gradually became more intensified. Methods: Data were collected at two time points among 352 Danish students in the first months of upper secondary school (August and November 2020). Multilevel regression models tested changes across time on past 30 days hazardous alcohol use (dependent variables). Separate models tested whether changes in alcohol use were related to gender, social interaction, loneliness and mental health. Results: During increased COVID-19-related restrictions in the second wave, students decreased the frequency and quantity of drinking (number of drinking days and binge drinking), which was associated with attending fewer parties. Students also reported less high-intensity drinking and fewer alcohol-related consequences. Students reported better mental health, but more students were affected by loneliness. Changes in mental health or loneliness were not related to reduced hazardous alcohol use. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that alcohol use decreased among Danish students transitioning to upper secondary school during the COVID-19 pandemic when restrictions increased, thereby providing support for a close link between adolescent alcohol use and social life; this is an important frame that is relevant when designing interventions to promote healthier and less risky choices throughout the next phase(s) of the pandemic and in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prediction of alcohol consumption in youths and particularly biomarkers of resilience, is critical for early intervention to reduce the risk of subsequent harmful alcohol use. Methods: At baseline, the longitudinal relaxation rate (R1), indexing grey matter myelination (i.e. myeloarchitecture), was assessed in 86 adolescents/young adults (mean age = 21.76, range: 15.75–26.67 years). The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was assessed at baseline, 1- and 2-year follow-ups (12- and 24-months post-baseline). We used a whole brain data-driven approach controlled for age, gender, impulsivity and other substance and behavioural addiction measures, such as problematic cannabis use, drug use-related problems, internet gaming, pornography use, binge eating, and levels of externalization, to predict the change in AUDIT scores from R1. Results: Greater baseline bilateral anterior insular and subcallosal cingulate R1 (cluster-corrected family-wise error p < 0.05) predict a lower risk for harmful alcohol use (measured as a reduction in AUDIT scores) at 2-year follow-up. Control analyses show that other grey matter measures (local volume or fractional anisotropy) did not reveal such an association. An atlas-based machine learning approach further confirms the findings. Conclusions: The insula is critically involved in predictive coding of autonomic function relevant to subjective alcohol cue/craving states and risky decision-making processes. The subcallosal cingulate is an essential node underlying emotion regulation and involved in negative emotionality addiction theories. Our findings highlight insular and cingulate myeloarchitecture as a potential protective biomarker that predicts resilience to alcohol misuse in youths, providing novel identifiers for early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrophysiology of the paralimbic network ("default mode") for self-awareness has drawn much attention in the past couple of decades. In contrast, knowledge of the molecular organization of conscious experience has only lately come into focus. We here review newer data on dopaminergic control of awareness in humans, particularly in self-awareness. These results implicate mainly dopaminergic neurotransmission and the control of GABAergic function directly in the paralimbic network. The findings are important for understanding addiction, developmental disorders, and dysfunctional consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]