Less tobacco and less alcohol among young people aged 17 in the overseas departments. This is the conclusion of the ESCAPAD survey, carried out in three stages from 2005 to 2011, by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT).
7,598 young people aged 17 living in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique and Réunion were followed. They were asked about their consumption of psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis). Regarding tobacco and cannabis, the study first reveals that, like in mainland France, a greater number of boys smoke (+ 10%). But the big difference concerns the daily consumption of hard drugs in 2011 between the overseas departments and the metropolis.
Indeed, 13.5% of teenagers 17-year-olds consume tobacco, compared to 31.5% of young people in mainland France. For’alcohol, the study notes that “situations of regular drunkenness” are much less common in the overseas departments than in metropolitan France (7% against 10.5%). No difference, however, regarding cannabis, it is as popular among teenagers domiens (5.7%) than among metropolitan (5.6%).
Stronger parental control, stricter religious education
Here, the difference in results would depend on family and school situations, according to OFDT investigators. Young people from separated parents reported drinking more in 2011. “The fact of belonging to a privileged family economic background seems to be linked to higher levels of consumption of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis in Martinique and Reunion “, indicates the OFDT. The study underlines that the factors are identical to those observed in metropolitan France.
Religious education could also explain that teens overseas departments are wiser than metropolitan ones. The image of the police, very present in the overseas departments, would favor stricter parental and societal control. In Reunion, on the other hand, consumption habits are stronger than in the other islands but are closer to that of the metropolis.
