Youth substance use was stable in early pandemic, study saysSubstance use among US kids 10 to 14 years old remained relatively stable during the first 6 months of the pandemic, according to longitudinal study results published yesterday in the Journal of Adolescent Health.The researchers used part of the cohort from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study and surveyed 7,842 adolescents and their families at 21 sites across the country three times during lockdown from May to August 2020.
The mean age of the youth cohort was 12.4 years.Overall, 8% reported substance use (eg, alcohol, nicotine, cannabis) in the past 30 days, with 3.4% reporting alcohol and 3.6% reporting nicotine use.