Publication year: 2011
Source: Addictive Behaviors, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 5 July 2011
Aurélie, Mayet , Stéphane, Legleye , Nearkasen, Chau , Bruno, Falissard
Use of a given substance may follow a stage process leading from onset to regular use, and use of one substance can be strongly associated with use of another. The aim of this study was to describe the transitions between tobacco and cannabis use. Data was derived from a French nationwide survey involving 29,393 teenagers. A homogenous Markov multi-state model (MSM) was fitted. The substance use pattern modelled was: no lifetime use→1 (2) substance(s) initiation→1 (2) daily substance(s) use, with pathways between tobacco and cannabis. The likelihood of first initiating tobacco appeared 17.6 times greater than the likelihood of initiating…
Highlights: ► Better understanding of the complex risk patterns of transitions from the first use to daily use of tobacco and cannabis. ► Support of an escalation process theory, according to which experimenting with one substance predisposes to experimenting with another substance or daily use. However, results compatible with a co-occurrence of gateway theory and reverse gateway theory. ► Assessments supported by an original modelling technique which simultaneously considers some substances in use and various temporal sequences.