Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2011 Winter;27(4):409-15.
doi: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2010.00360.x. Epub 2011 Jan 24.

Rural adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use: a comparison of students in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States

Kerri Coomber  1 , John W Toumbourou, Peter Miller, Petra K Staiger, Sheryl A Hemphill, Richard F Catalano
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Rural adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use: a comparison of students in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States

Kerri Coomber et al. J Rural Health. 2011 Winter.

Abstract

Purpose: There are inconsistent research findings regarding the impact of rurality on adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substance use. Therefore, the current study reports on the effect of rurality on alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among adolescents in 2 state representative samples in 2 countries, Washington State (WA) in the United States and Victoria (VIC) in Australia.

Participants: The International Youth Development Study (IYDS) recruited representative samples of students from Grade 7 (aged 12 to 13 years) and Grade 9 (aged 14 to 15) in both states. A total of 3,729 students responded to questions about alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other illicit substance use (n(VIC) = 1,852; n(WA) = 1,877). In each state, males and females were equally represented and ages ranged from 12 to 15 years.

Methods: Data were analyzed to compare lifetime and current (past 30 days) substance use for students located in census areas classified as urban, large or small town, and rural. Findings were adjusted for school clustering and weighted to compare prevalence at median age 14 years.

Findings: Rates of lifetime and current alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use were significantly higher in rural compared to urban students in both states (odds ratio for current substance use = 1.31).

Conclusions: In both Washington State and Victoria, early adolescent rural students use substances more frequently than their urban counterparts. Future studies should examine factors that place rural adolescents at risk for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organisation . Global health risks: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. World Health Organisation; Geneva: 2009.
    1. Ezzati M, Lopez A, Rodgers A, Murray C. Comparative quantifications of health risks. Global and regional burden of disease attributable to selected major risk factors. World Health Organization; Geneva: 2004.
    1. Toumbourou J, Stockwell T, Marlatt G, Sturge J, Rehm J. Interventions to reduce harm associated with adolescent substance use. Lancet. 2007;369:1391–1401. - PubMed
    1. Pruitt L. The forgotten fifth: Rural youth and substance abuse. Stanford Law Policy Rev. 2009;20:359–404.
    1. Gfroerer JC, Larson SL, Colliver JD. Drug use patterns and trends in rural communities. J Rural Health. 2007;23:10–15. - PubMed

Publication types