title: [Drug consumptions by the young adolescents: 1. Epidemiological data].
abstract: Adolescence is often the time of experimentation with psychoactive substances, sometimes leading to more regular use. This paper gives an update of drug consumptions by the young adolescents, from results of recent general population surveys in France, and focuses on the specificity of this consumption when compared to that of older adolescents. It shows that regular uses of such substances usually do not start before the age of 14, but that early initiated adolescents show a higher risk of moving towards more intensive or problematic uses. Through presenting the limitations of such surveys, the authors discuss the nature of the link observed between early experimentation and level of use: while acknowledging the unquestionable prognostic value of early initiation to predict future problematic use, they show that its interpretation should be made with caution when based on such transversal epidemiological surveys.
authors.affiliation: Département Observation et analyse des comportements de santé, INPES, 42, boulevard de la Libération, 93203 Saint-Denis Cedex, France. francois.beck@inpes.sante.fr
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Godeau
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Legleye
authors.forename: Stanislas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spilka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
vernacular_title: Les usages de drogues des plus jeunes adolescents: 1. Données épidémiologiques.