Pukyong National University

Adolescents who smoke and drink alcohol are more likely to use drugs

- research results from the research team of professor Her Won-Bin and Oh Young-Sam at PKNU

Reserch has shown that adolescents who have experienced smoking and alcohol are more likely to use drugs than those who have not.

The team of professors Her Won-Bin and Oh Young-Sam in the department of social welfare at Pukyong National University, found out the correlation between adolescents' smoking, drinking, and drug use based on the gateway theory.

The gateway theory is often used to explain the phenomenon where the use of safe or legally permitted drugs leads to the use of stronger (more addictive) drugs. It is in a similar context to the proverb, 'he that will steal an egg will steal an ox'.

According to their study, the group with experience using narcotics had more experience with smoking and drinking at a statistically significant level than the group with no experience. Lifetime experience of using e-cigarette (incl. vape pen) was twice as high, lifetime experience of smoking was approximately 1.54 times higher, and lifetime experience of drinking alcohol was approximately 1.29 times higher.

The results of the study showed that adolescents who had ever smoked e-cigarettes at least once in their lives were 2.42 times more likely to use narcotics than adolescents who had no experience at all.

Additionally, the earlier (younger) one started smoking cigarettes during adolescence, the likelihood of using narcotics increased by 1.53 times each year, and the earlier one year of starting drinking, the likelihood of using narcotics increased by 1.58 times.

The research team conducted the study using the results of the 17th (2021) online survey on adolescent health behavior conducted by the Korea disease control and prevention agency (KDCA) on 54,848 middle and high school students from 800 schools nationwide and analyzed the results of this study as supporting the gateway theory that the use of soft drugs such as smoking and drinking leads to the use of hard drugs such as narcotics.

The paper 'Analyzing the relationship among adolescent alcohol, smoking, and drug use: utilizing the gateway theory’ containing this study was published in the latest issue (vol. 31, no. 2) of <Journal of social science> by Sogang university institute of social science.

Professor Oh Young-Sam said, "If the problem of drug use among teens cannot be completely eliminated, prevention and establishment of a response system are more important than punishment," he added "I believe that an accurate understanding of the actual situation of teen drug abuse and the establishment of an effective strategy and system must come first, and that efforts and interest from all individuals and communities, including the government, schools, police, and social welfare agencies, are needed."