US youth turn to substance use to cope with pandemic-related isolation, stress

In the US, adolescents often turn to substance use to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a recent study has found. Important predictors of such behaviour include pandemic-related isolation and economic hardship.

Researchers assessed 1,244 youth (mean age 19.6 years, 56.0 percent men) who were followed for 1 year. Substance use was assessed through a survey that asked the following question: “To cope with social distancing and isolation, are you doing any of the following?” Participants were instructed to answer yes or no to smoking more cigarettes, vaping more, drinking more alcohol, using nonprescription drugs, using prescription drugs, and using cannabis or marijuana.

Similarly, participants were asked about their experiences regarding social isolation and stress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey found that in 2020, 15.7 percent of the respondent youth used marijuana. Meanwhile 8.9 percent said they increased vaping and 8.2 increased drinking in order to cope with isolation. Around 1 percent of the sample said they smoked more cigarettes and used prescription or nonprescription drugs.

The researchers then performed multivariate regression analysis to identify potential predictors of substance use. Fully adjusted models found that COVID-19-related isolation increased the likelihood of marijuana use by nearly 50 percent (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.47, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.18–1.83).

Meanwhile, economic hardship due to the pandemic aggravated the odds of increased drinking by almost 40 percent (adjusted OR, 1.39, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.92). In contrast, greater parental education was significantly protective against increased vaping (adjusted OR, 0.40, 95 percent CI, 0.17–0.96).