Is medicine use in adolescence risk behavior? Cross-sectional survey of school-aged children from 11 to 15.

PURPOSE: To examine the association between smoking, drunkenness, and medicine use for headache, stomachache, difficulties in getting to sleep, and nervousness in a representative sample of 11- to 15-year-old school-aged children.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional school-based survey.

SETTING

A random sample of schools in Denmark in 2002.

PARTICIPANTS

All students in the fifth, seventh and ninth grades in these schools, n = 4824.

MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported medicine use for headache, stomachache, difficulties in getting to sleep, and nervousness within the last month; self-reported experience of drunkenness; self-reported smoking.

RESULTS

There was a strong and graded association between drunkenness and medicine use, even in models adjusted for the symptom for which the medicine was taken. There was a similar association between medicine use and smoking.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that medicine use can be regarded as part of a cluster of risk behaviors among young people.