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‘Almost a third of 17-year-olds have tried cannabis and one in ten have tried harder drugs, such as cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, with similar rates of experimentation regardless of parents’ education level, finds a new UCL study.
https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/10-of-teenagers-have-tried-hard-drugs-by-age-17/
https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/10-of-teenagers-have-tried-hard-drugs-by-age-17/
‘Males reported higher rates of cannabis use than females (34% vs 28%), harder drug taking (12% vs 8%) and binge drinking (56% vs 51%).’
‘Young people whose parents were highly educated – holding at least a degree – were more likely to report having tried alcohol than those whose parents had lower level qualifications (89% vs 82%).’
‘They were also more likely to have engaged in binge drinking (59% vs 50%). Rates of drug use remained similar among young people, regardless of parents’ educational qualifications.’
‘White teenagers were much more likely to have experimented with substances than their ethnic minority peers. They were twice as likely to report taking harder drugs (11% vs 5%) and almost three times more likely to report binge drinking than ethnic minority teens (59% vs 21%).’
‘Stark differences were observed in rates of substance use between ethnic groups, with young people of white ethnicity reporting much higher rates of experimentation and more regular use than ethnic minorities.’
https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CLS-briefing-paper-Risky-behaviours-MCS-Age-17-initial-findings.pdf
https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CLS-briefing-paper-Risky-behaviours-MCS-Age-17-initial-findings.pdf
‘For example, 88% of whites had tried alcohol compared to 47% of ethnic minorities, and 59% of whites had engaged in binge drinking compared to 21% of ethnic minorities.’
‘Among white people, 48% had tried smoking and 13% were regular smokers. For ethnic minorities the corresponding figures were 25% and 6%. Similar patterns were observed for having tried cannabis, and harder drugs, with ethnic minorities reporting lower prevalences than whites.‘
Coincidence? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/11/white-children-likely-suffer-mental-health-issues-study-finds/
