Associations of family environment and individual factors with tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use in adolescents

Despite abundant literature the respective roles of psychosomatic status, p ersonality, health perception, family environment, and sport activity in to bacco, alcohol and illicit drug use have not been well known. To assess the ir roles, an epidemiological cross-sectional study was conducted in 3294 mi ddle and high school adolescents, 2396 (73%) of whom agreed to participate. The standardized questionnaire was filled out by the teenagers under the s upervision of the teachers. Strong associations were found between tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use. The prevalence of alcohol use and illicit d rug use were respectively 7 and 10 times higher in smokers than in non-smok ers. On the whole, the potential risk factors for tobacco, alcohol, and ill icit drug use were age, psychosomatic status and psychotropic drug consumpt ion, boring family atmosphere, not living with both father and mother, and health perception. Mother being a housewife was a protective factor. No mar ked role was noted for the head of family's socio-occupational category. Pe rsonality would be indicators of self-control ability. Indeed, some self-re ported personalities (serious, attentive, calm, organized) had protection r oles whereas some others (easily irritable, aggressive, worried, clumsy, ca reless, solitary, etc.) were risk factors (risk-taking or deviant behaviors ). Some sports activities were found to be negatively related, but some oth ers related positively with drug use, possibly due to repetitive meetings b etween the adolescents at risk. Preventive measures may be targeted at thes e risk factors.