Relationship between Substance Use and Socioeconomic Variables in Pennsylvania Adolescents: 2009–2017

<i>Purpose:</i> The goal of the current study is to analyze the substance use trends in Generation Z youth (in both middle and high school environments) and to determine if any correlation exists between substance use behaviors and demographic variables. <i>Methods:</i> Analysis is based on substance use data collected through the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) from 2009 to 2017 and the 2016 US census data. <i>Results:</i> Our results suggest that substance use in Gen Z adolescents is mainly linked to alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, vaping, and narcotic prescription drugs. Alcohol is the most prevalent high-risk substance used by 12th grade students with 69.8% of students having consumed alcohol over their lifetime. Vaping is the next highly used substance with 28.9% of students in 12th grade having vaped 30 day prior to the survey. There is a significant correlation among adolescents between smoking cigarettes and using smokeless tobacco. A student using either alcohol, cigarettes or smokeless tobacco is highly likely to use the other two substances as well. Adolescents from counties with a high Caucasian population were at high risk for cigarette and smokeless tobacco use, while the opposite held true for counties with a high number of foreign-born persons or higher Asian or Hispanic populations. Higher median household incomes and higher adult education levels in a county were both protective factors against smokeless tobacco use. <i>Conclusions:</i> Results of the study suggest that students start experimenting with high-risk substance use in early grades and to combat the prevalence, we suggest the importance of educating adolescents of the dangers of drug use in early grades.

研究目的：本研究旨在分析覆盖初高中校园场景的Z世代青少年物质使用趋势，并探究物质使用行为与人口统计学变量之间是否存在相关性。
研究方法：本研究的分析基于2009至2017年宾夕法尼亚青年调查（Pennsylvania Youth Survey, PAYS）收集的物质使用数据，以及2016年美国人口普查数据。
研究结果：本研究结果显示，Z世代青少年的高风险物质使用主要涉及酒精、大麻、卷烟、无烟烟草、电子雾化（vaping）以及麻醉类处方药。其中酒精是最普遍的高风险物质：十二年级学生的终身饮酒率达69.8%。电子雾化使用位居第二，十二年级学生在调查前30天内的使用率达28.9%。青少年群体中，卷烟吸食与无烟烟草使用存在显著相关性；若学生使用酒精、卷烟或无烟烟草中的任意一种，则极有可能同时使用另外两种物质。来自白人人口占比较高县域的青少年，其卷烟吸食与无烟烟草使用风险更高；而在外国出生人口占比高、亚裔或西班牙裔人口占比高的县域，上述两类物质的使用风险则呈相反态势。县域家庭收入中位数越高、成人受教育水平越高，则越能作为保护因素降低无烟烟草的使用风险。
研究结论：本研究结果表明，学生在低年级阶段就已开始尝试高风险物质使用；为遏制此类物质使用的流行态势，我们建议在低年级阶段向青少年开展药物使用危害的宣教工作，此举至关重要。