Prevalence and factors associated with illicit drug use throughout life: National School Health Survey 2015

Body dissatisfaction, drug use, and associated factors among adolescents in three Brazilian cities

OBJECTIVE

analyze the association between drug use and body dissatisfaction among adolescents in three Brazilian cities.

METHOD

cross-sectional study, using a nested randomized controlled trial to evaluate the drug use prevention program #TamoJunto2.0 of the Ministry of Health in Brazilian schools. The sample consisted of 5,213 students from 73 schools in three Brazilian cities. The outcome body satisfaction was analyzed using the Stunkard scale and the explanatory variables were drug use and sociodemographic data.

RESULTS

the adolescents were between 12 and 14 years old; about 69.9% of them reported body dissatisfaction, and 35.67% used alcohol in the previous year. Dissatisfaction due to overweight was higher among girls (41.5%) and dissatisfaction due to underweight was higher among boys (33.1%). Adolescents who used marijuana were 39% (OR=1.39) more likely to feel dissatisfied due to underweight and being a girl increased the chances of feeling dissatisfied due to overweight by 24% (OR=1.24).

CONCLUSION

the levels of body dissatisfaction deserve attention in hebiatric nursing care and reinforce the importance of educational strategies addressing body image and drug use, relating them to the various subjective attributes that can affect the health of adolescents, whether in the community or at school.

(1) High prevalence of body dissatisfaction related to overweight. (2) Girls presented 24% more chances of feeling body dissatisfaction due to overweight. (3) Marijuana use in adolescence can increase by 39% body dissatisfaction due to underweight. (4) Last year, about 35.7% of adolescents had already consumed alcohol. (5) Health promotion and stimulation of positive perceptions of self-image.

Health-risk behavior differences between boarding and non-resident students: Brazilian adolescent National School Health Survey

Background

Studies that evaluated health-risk behaviors with boarding students are scarce. There are no studies with representative samples among adolescents residing in educational institutions in Latin America. To better assess the role of resident status on such behaviors, this study aimed to compare health-risk behaviors between boarding and non-resident students assessed by the Brazilian National Adolescent School Health Survey (PeNSE).

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using the 2015 PeNSE database. A sample of 101,788 students (aged 11–19 years) from both public and private schools throughout all the Brazilian states completed the survey. A self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate multiple health-related behaviors (sociodemographic characteristics; sexual behavior; cigarette use; drug use; and alcohol use). Poisson regression model-based analyses were performed and the effects measured through the prevalence ratio (PR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

Boarding residents reported more health-risk behaviors than non-residents: previous sexual intercourse (PR 1.17, 1.10–1.25), smoking experience (PR 1.12, 1.03–1.21), monthly smoking frequency (PR 1.68, 1.42–1.99), monthly alcohol intake (PR 2.12, 1.79–2.50), inebriation (PR 1.51, 1.35–1.71), drug use experience (PR 1.23, 1.10–1.38), and monthly drug use frequency (PR 1.59, 1.31–1.94).

Conclusions

Boarding residents reported more health-risk behaviors than did non-residents. The results provide insights into an under-researched subject, helping to highlight potential points of intervention for supporting public health programs within the boarding-school student population.