Young people tend to minimize the risks of tobacco, alcohol, drugs and screens. On the side of general practitioners, prevention mainly concerns tobacco but is still too weak for alcohol and cannabis.
- 84% of respondents drink alcohol, 56% smoke tobacco, 36% cannabis, 5% use hard drugs and 41% say they spend more than 6 hours a day in front of a screen.
- The perception of risk is relatively high for hard drugs but drops drastically for tobacco and cannabis, while alcohol and screens seem trivialized.
- The use of these substances has short-term consequences for young people.
The pandemic, restrictive measures and the increase in telework are not without consequences for the addictions of the French. Sometimes, recognizing an addiction can be difficult, especially among young people who tend to minimize the risks associated with tobacco, alcohol, drugs or even screens. This is shown by a survey conducted by Ipsos for the Macif insurance group on young people aged 16 to 30.
A cocktail of substances
Among young people, the most widely consumed substance is alcohol since 84% of those questioned indicated that they drink it. Behind them is tobacco (56%) and cannabis (36%). Finally, there are hard drugs, the regular use of which concerns 5% of young people. But that’s not all since the survey also assessed addiction to screens and the results reveal that 41% of young people questioned say they spend more than 6 hours a day in front of them.
The use of these different substances can add up and lead to poly-consumption. “When we take a hard drug, we systematically drink alcohol and smoke”, insists Adeline Merceron, head of the health activity at Ipsos. This cocktail of substances can cause problems and prevent you from breaking out of the vicious circle of consumption. “There may be interactions between substancesnotes Cécile Masset, school doctor at the Catholic University of Lille. When we try to wean you off, there is a risk of dependency transfer; for example, if a young person quits alcohol, they will smoke more.” Screens are also present in this mix since the regular use of products is correlated with an increase in the time spent in front of them.
Minimized consequences
What the survey mainly highlights is the lack of awareness of the risks run by adolescents. “We know that when it comes to addictions, it’s in adolescence that everything happensassures Emmanuel Petit, in charge of prevention at Macif. Anyway, they are going to test these substances, so you might as well give them the keys to understanding to do so in a secure environment..” It appears through this survey that the perception of risk is relatively high for hard drugs but drops drastically for tobacco and cannabis, while alcohol and screens seem trivialized. “Often these young people have an illusion of controladds Jessica Sautron, psychologist and therapist specializing in the family. But the awareness comes at the time of a bankruptcy: a separation, a withdrawal of license, the loss of a job.”
Without expecting the long term, the consumption of these substances has short-term consequences for young people. The survey reveals that 52% of young people have lost control of themselves at least once in the last 12 months, after using one of these substances. And one in five at least ten times a year. The results reveal that 14% are due to cannabis, 7% to hard drugs and 61% to interactive screens. This leads to a lot of bad trips, academic and professional failure for 30%, and isolation for 27%. Finally, for 20%, this consumption, generally festive, causes suicidal thoughts, 29% physical and sexual assault, and 14% a traffic accident.
The preventive work of GPs varies according to the substances
In parallel with this survey, the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) has just publish two studies on the opinions and practices of private general practitioners in terms of prevention. In the front line concerning prevention, it appears in this research that doctors almost systematically do this preventive work on the risks associated with tobacco consumption, but with more parsimony concerning alcohol and cannabis. In the figures, 66% of them do this identification for each of their patients for tobacco, but this drops to 43% for alcohol and drops to 24% for cannabis.
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