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Increase in the Use of Alcohol and Other Substances in Adolescents During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

G. Dom
G. Dom*
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Psychiatry, Boechout, Belgium

Abstract

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The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restriction measures have a great impact on patterns of substance use throughout the general population. Interestingly, in contrast to initial expectations on an overall negative impact, data of large surveys show a differentiated picture of impact. A recent systematic review (Roberts et al., 221) showed mixed tendencies towards increased alcohol consumption, contrasting with a clear trend towards the use of other psychoactive (illicit drugs and prescription drugs) substances. patterns of use before COVID-19 (e.g. habit of drinking at home) and availability (illicit drug traffic changes) are among the significant factors. In addition, mental health factors (depression, anxiety) and social isolation are common correlates with substance use. These factors may be of specific importance impacting substance use in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exemplary is an increase in the use of sleeping medication among Belgian adolescents and young adults. In the current presentation data of national (Belgium) surveys on substance use in adolescents will be presented and discussed within the context of findings in international surveys.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Educational
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S13 - S14
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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