A study conducted in part by the University released this week revealed that European teen-agers drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes more than their American counterparts, yet American teens abuse illicit drugs more.
The data was compiled from a comparison of two studies taken in 1999: the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs, which polled 95,000 European 10th-grade students in 30 countries, and Monitoring the Future, a University study conducted among 14,000 American 10th-grade students in 140 schools.
A comparison of the two studies found:
n 61 percent of European teens drank alcohol in the past 30 days, compared to 26 percent of American teens.
n 37 percent of Europeans smoked at least one cigarette in the past month, compared to 26 percent of Americans.
n 41 percent of American students used marijuana, while 17 percent of Europeans did.
n 23 percent of Americans used other illicit drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine, compared to 6 percent of Europeans.
n Among the 31 total countries surveyed, the United States had the third lowest percentage of smoking and the second lowest percentage of drinking.
“I was surprised by the extent, rather than the direction, of the findings and I was not prepared for the magnitude of the differences,” said Lloyd Johnston, the University social psychologist who leads the project.
Students in Germany and the Netherlands did not fully engage in the study. Johnson said the data from those countries may have decreased the differences in illicit drug use between Europe and the United States.
Johnson added that future study collaborations with European organizations are likely. Though he would like to find partnerships in Asia and Latin America, he said the lack of funding in those areas does not make those connections seem feasible.
Many University students said they were not surprised by the survey”s findings.
“Those numbers don”t amaze me,” said LSA junior Sherry Wong. “When I went to Europe last summer, I felt like every other teenager I saw had a cigarette in their hand.”
LSA freshman Lindsey Simon shared similar sentiments.
“That makes sense because Europe has such lower drinking and smoking ages than the U.S.,” she said.
Johnson said he does not think that is the whole story. He credits the differences to the fact that the origin of the drug epidemic in the United States during the 1960s and lesser developed anti-drinking and anti-smoking efforts in European countries.
Monitoring the Future is conducted at the Survey Research Center at the University”s Institute for Social Research. The study, originated in 1975, receives research grants from the National Institution on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.