Running away experience and psychoactive substance use among adolescents in Taiwan: multi-city street outreach survey

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Chuan-Yu Chen¹  Chih-Yin Lew-Ting²  Wen-Chun Chen³  Shi-Heng Wang³  Wei J Chen⁴ 

[1] Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Division of Mental Health and Addiction Medicine Research, National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, 350, Miaoli County, Zhunan, Taiwan;Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, 100, Taipei, Taiwan;

关键词: Methamphetamine;    Sexual Experience;    Ecstasy;    Psychoactive Substance;    Illegal Drug;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-10-29

 received in 2009-05-07, accepted in 2010-01-20,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis study aimed to examine: 1) the relationship between being a runaway and the time since the first absconding event and adolescent substance use; 2) whether different kinds of psychoactive substances have a different temporal relationship to the first absconding event; and 3) whether the various reasons for the first absconding event are associated with different risks of substance use.MethodsParticipants were drawn from the 2004-2006 nationwide outreach programs across 26 cities/towns in Taiwan. A total of 17,133 participants, age 12-18 years, who completed an anonymous questionnaire on their experience of running away and substances use and who were now living with their families, were included in the analysis.ResultsThe lifetime risk of tobacco, alcohol, betel nut, and illegal drug/inhalant use increased steadily from adolescents who had experienced a trial runaway episode (one time lasting ≤ 1 day), to those with extended runaway experience (≥ 2 times or lasting > 1 day), when compared to those who had never ran away. Adolescents who had their first running away experience > 6 months previously had a greater risk of betel nut or illegal drug/inhalant use over the past 6-months than those with a similar experience within the last 6 months. Both alcohol and tobacco use were most frequently initiated before the first running away, whereas both betel nut and illegal drug/inhalant use were most frequently initiated after this event. When adolescents who were fleeing an unsatisfactory home life were compared to those who ran away for excitement, the risk of alcohol use was similar but the former tended to have a higher risk of tobacco, betel nut, and illegal drug/inhalant use.ConclusionsMore significant running away and a longer time since the first absconding experience were associated with more advanced substance involvement among adolescents now living in a family setting. Once adolescents had left home, they developed additional psychoactive substance problems, regardless of their reasons for running away. These findings have implications for caregivers, teachers, and healthcare workers when trying to prevent and/or intervening in adolescent substance use.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.