Background to the Research

• Since the end of the 1970s, concern has been increasing in relation to substance use by young people in NI. This research seeks to explore the nature and extent of drug use amongst a sample of 16 and 17 year olds in NI.
  

Research Approach

• A sample of 1,214 16-17 year olds drawn from 6th forms, further education colleges and YTP projects completed questionnaires about their use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. They also answered questions concerning their examination results and their retrospective feeling about school.
  

Main Findings

• Almost all respondents had had an alcoholic drink and more than 80% were current drinkers. More than a third of the drinkers, and almost 30% of all respondents, were classified as 'heavy drinkers'.
• Many young drinkers had exceeded the sensible drinking level for adults of their sex during the week before the survey. Respondents drinking was related to family drinking behaviour.
• Two-thirds of the sample had experimented with smoking and 38% were currently smokers with most smoking frequently.
• Young people living with lone parents were more likely to have parents who smoked and to be smokers themselves. Smoking was related to drinking and heavy smoking was associated with heavy drinking.
• Almost two-thirds of the sample had been offered drugs, and drugs were seen to be generally available. Over 40% of respondents had used drugs and two-thirds of those who had ever tried a drug were current drug users.
• One in eight of the sample had used drugs in the week before the survey, with cannabis the most likely drug to have been used. Twenty-eight per cent had used LSD and/or ecstasy and most young drug users had used more than one type of drug.
• The children of lone mothers (but not lone fathers) were more likely than those from other types of families to have used drugs and solvents and to have continued to use drugs frequently. There were clear relationships between drug use, smoking and excessive drinking.
• Most young people had more than £10 weekly to spend on themselves and most earned at least part of their spending money. Having large amounts of money was strongly associated with involvement in all the drug related behaviours.
• Almost all respondents had taken some examinations and over half had achieved 5 or more A-C grade GCSE passes. Compared to these respondents, those with lower grades had been less happy at school, had liked their teachers less and were more likely to have found classes in primary school boring.
• Young people with higher grades were less likely to smoke, drink heavily or use drugs.
• Alienation scores were strongly associated with the drug-using behaviour of respondents. The association between alienation and having used drugs and current drug use was less strong for young people on YTP schemes than for respondents in 6th form colleges or at further education colleges, possibly reflecting a greater tolerance of drug use among young people who had left education.