ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2020
Trends in the sequence of first alcohol, cannabis and cigarette use in Australia, 2001-2016.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Longitudinal Effects of Cannabis Use on Suicidal Behaviour in Early Adulthood in Washington State, United States and Victoria, Australia.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026Article
- A longitudinal person-centered analysis of anxiety sensitivity risk for young adult alcohol misuse: Examining the role of injunctive norms.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Enjoyment in Sport and Alcohol Use among Adolescents: Examining the Mediating Role of Engagement.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Cannabis Use and Its Impact on Mental Health in Youth in Australia and the United States: A Scoping Review.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Do non-drinking youth drink less alcohol in young adulthood or do they catch up? Findings from a Swedish birth cohort.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- Updated systematic review of Australian school-based prevention programmes for alcohol and other drugs: a review protocol.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Are changes in attitudes towards school associated with declining youth drinking? A multi-level analysis of 37 countries.European journal of public health · 2022Article
- Declining drinking among adolescents: Are we seeing a denormalisation of drinking and a normalisation of non-drinking?Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- 17 Is the New 15: Changing Alcohol Consumption among Swedish Youth.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Long-term trends in adolescent alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use and emerging substance use issues in Aotearoa New Zealand.Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · 2022Review
- Cross-national time trends in adolescent alcohol use from 2002 to 2014.European journal of public health · 2021Article
- Changes in the Order of Cigarette and Marijuana Initiation and Associations with Cigarette Use, Nicotine Vaping, and Marijuana Use: U.S. 12th Grade Students, 2000-2019.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRecent analyses of data from the US found that young people were increasingly engaging in cannabis use before alcohol and cigarettes. These shifts are important for public health, but it is not clear whether such trends extend beyond the US. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how the age and sequencing of initiation into alcohol, cannabis and cigarette use has changed in Australia since the early 2000s.
methodsData came from six waves of the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey, spanning 2001-2016. We used data from 18 to 21 year-olds (n = 6849) and examined trends in the age at first use for each of the three substances plus any changes in the order of initiation.
resultsThe mean age of initiation increased steadily for all three substances (e.g. from 14.9 in 2001 to 16.4 in 2016 for alcohol), while the prevalence of any use declined. There were some changes in ordering of use. For example, in 2001, 62 % of respondents who used both cigarettes and cannabis had first used cigarettes at an earlier age than cannabis, compared with 41 % in 2016. Young people who used both alcohol and cannabis remained more likely to try alcohol before cannabis across the study period.
conclusionsOur results partly replicated US findings, with differences potentially reflecting the substantially different environment around these substances in the US compared to Australia. The age of initiation for alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use in Australia has increased sharply over the past 15 years.
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