Research paper
Worries about others’ substance use—Differences between alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.07.014Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

While it is well documented that many experience harm from others’ substance use, little is known about the psychological strain associated with others’ use. The aims were: (1) to describe the prevalence of worries about others’ alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, (2) whose substance use people worry about, (3) the overlap in worries, and (4) to examine how worries about others’ use of each substance vary according to demographics, own substance use and experience of harm from others’ use.

Methods

A population survey was conducted among 16–64 year old Norwegians (N = 1667). Respondents’ reported on worries about others’ alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, measures of experiences of harm from others’ use of the three substances, and own substance use.

Results

Worries about others’ drinking were most prevalent. Among those who worried, others’ cigarette and illegal drug use caused more frequent worry. While worry about cigarette use was mostly associated with family members’ use, worry about others’ alcohol and illegal drug use more often concerned friends’/acquaintances’ use. About half worried about others’ use of at least one substance. Across all three substances, experience of harm from others’ substance use was most strongly related to worries.

Conclusion

Worries about others’ substance use are common and reflect the prevalence of use of the substances in the population. In sum, the findings suggest that worry about others’ alcohol and illegal drug use is primarily related to acute harm while worry about others’ cigarette smoking is more related to chronic harm.

Section snippets

Background

Substance use causes a wide range of negative consequences, including harm to health and social problems (Babor et al., 2010; Nutt, Kind, Saulsburry, & Blakemore, 2007). While cigarette smoking and alcohol constitutes the largest problem in terms of the global burden of disease (Forouzanfar et al., 2016), social problems can to a larger extent be attributed to alcohol and illegal drug use (Nutt et al., 2007; Nutt, King, & Phillips, 2010; Van Amsterdam, Opperhuizen, & Koeter, 2010). Substance

Procedure and respondents

Data were obtained from a national survey on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use conducted in Norway in 2012. The survey was commissioned by the Norwegian Institute of Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS) and carried out by Statistics Norway.

A sample of 3000 individuals aged 16–79 years, and an additional sample of 700 16–30 years old, were drawn from The Norwegian Population Register. Of these 3700, 48 were dead or lived abroad, and were excluded from the target sample giving a net sample of

Prevalence of and overlap in worries

Table 1 shows that worries about others’ substance use were most prevalent in relation to alcohol use (31.2%), followed by cigarette smoking (25.6%) and use of illegal drugs (10.3%). Among those who worried about others’ substance use, the proportion that worried frequently was higher among those who worried about others’ cigarette smoking or illegal drug use than among those who worried about others’ alcohol use (43.0% and 41.2%, respectively versus 25%). While it was most common to worry

Discussion

This study shows that worries about others’ substance use is most prevalent in relation to alcohol use, followed by cigarette smoking and illegal drug use. Among those who worried, frequent worry was more common in relation to others’ cigarette smoking and illegal drug use than in relation to others’ use of alcohol. Among those who worried about others’ alcohol and illegal drug use, the majority worried about friends/acquaintances. For worry about others’ cigarette smoking, worry about

Conclusion

This study adds to previous research by showing that others’ alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use not only results in concrete incidents of harm such as verbal or physical harm to others, which have been the focus in most previous studies on harm from others’ substance use, but that it also causes worry. Half of the respondents worried about others’ use of at least one substance. Worries about others’ substance use seem to reflect the prevalence of use of the various substances in the

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interests.

Acknowledgement

The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS), which became part of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) January 2016, funded the research.

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