Family and contextual factors associated with licit drug use in adolescence

TO evaluate the family and contextual factors associated with licit drug use among 15 to 19-year-old adolescents in the school context.

This is a representative, school-based, cross-sectional study conducted with 746 adolescents from 15 to 19 years old enrolled in public and private schools. Parents/guardians reported on the sociodemographic variables, while adolescents answered questionnaires on drug use, family cohesion and adaptability, oral health literacy and visits to the dentist. Information on school context was obtained at the institution and via municipal publications. Associations between variables were analyzed using unadjusted and adjusted multilevel Poisson regression models.

Prevalence of licit drug use at least once and a pattern indicative of harmful drug use were 39.8% and 15.1%, respectively. After the adjusted analysis of licit drug use at least once, the variables gender (PR = 1.26; 95%CI: 1.01-1.59), family cohesion (PR = 9.81; 95%CI: 1.23-72.54), and average income of the school district (PR = 0.72; 95%CI: 0.57-0.91) remained in the final model. As for drug abuse, only the detached type (PR = 23.01; 95%CI: 2.46-214.87) and separated type (PR = 13.54; 95%CI: 1.40-130.97) of family cohesion remained in the final model.

Experience with licit drug use was associated with family and contextual factors among the adolescents, while family cohesion was the main factor related to harmful drug use.