Role of personal and family factors in alcohol and substance use among adolescents: an international study with focus on developing countries.

Accessible summary Study reveals that alcohol and substance use and abuse is common among adolescents sampled from developing countries, and that it may be as high as have been reported in the developed nations. The risk factors also appear similar., To this extent, current strategies to combat adolescent alcohol and substance abuse in developed countries can be adopted in developing countries as well. There is, however, a need to adapt some of these well-established intervention programmes into the reality of the developing countries. Peculiar challenge in these countries includes lack of human resource capacity in child and adolescent psychiatry. Therefore, such programmes will necessarily have to be simplified and implementable by allied professionals like teachers, social workers, school counsellors, nurses and spiritual advisers. Family cohesion - which is a potential strength of developing countries - also needs to be strengthened as a bulwark against adolescent involvement in social vices like alcohol and substance abuse., Abstract Most studies examining adolescent alcohol and substance use or abuse hardly include samples from developing countries. To bridge some gap, the prevalence and associated social correlates of alcohol and substance use and abuse was examined among a cohort of school-going adolescents sampled from seven developing countries. Alcohol and substance abuse was measured using the CRAFFT instrument, independent socio-demographic correlates were determined using regression models. A total of 2454 adolescents completed the study, among which 40.9% reported using either alcohol or at least one other substance during the previous 12 months. This was mostly alcohol (37.8%), followed by marijuana/hashish (8.6%) and other substances (8.1%). Among the adolescents who reported using at least one substance, 45% (18.3% of total sample) had CRAFFT scores indicative of problematic or hazardous substance use. Several personal and family factors were independently associated with use/abuse, and the modifiable nature of these factors calls for appropriate intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]