Lifetime prevalence of alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, and solvent inhalation among junior high school students in Japan: tradition and urbanization.
To estimate the lifetime prevalence of alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, and solvent inhalation among general junior high school students in Chiba prefecture, the author surveyed 6,115 students enrolled in 14 junior high schools in 1992. The lifetime prevalence of alcohol drinking was 78.4% of male subjects, 72.8% of female subjects, and 75.6% of all subjects. The lifetime prevalence of cigarette smoking was 30.7%, 14.9%, and 22.9%, respectively. The lifetime prevalence of solvent inhalation was 2.5%, 1.2%, and 1.9%, respectively. The past-year prevalence of solvent inhalation was 1.8%, 0.9%, and 1.4%, respectively. Furthermore, to reveal the relationship between the prevalence of drug use and the regional characteristics, multiple regression analysis was performed, using 7 indices that seemed to represent the regional characteristics. The multiple regression analysis revealed the following: 1) that the lifetime prevalence of alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking had a strong standardized partial regression coefficient with the percentage of owner occupants (Mochiieritsu in Japanese) and 2) that the lifetime and the past-year prevalence of solvent inhalation had a strong standardized partial regression coefficient with the ratio of daytime population to nighttime population (Chuyakanjinkouhi in Japanese). The author considered that these coefficients represented the relationship between traditional lifestyle and urbanization and drug use among junior high school students in Japan.
Wada
K
K
Division of Drug Dependence Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 1-7-3 Kohnodai, Ichikawa-shi, Chiba-ken, 272-0827, Japan.
D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012997:Solvents; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014507:Urbanization
D012997:Solvents