Types of polydrug use among Spanish adolescents.
This study examined the types of polydrug use among Spanish adolescents. 1501 high school students (50.6% female) aged 12 to 17years old (mean age14.03, SD1.28), from public schools in the city of Girona (Catalonia, Spain), completed the survey. In the previous six months 20.9% of the Spanish adolescents used alcohol, 18.8% tobacco, 10.5% cannabis and 0.7% cocaine. Specifically, 28.6% of the sample (n429 29% males and 28.2% females) used at least one drug and 13.9% reported polydrug use (n208 12.6% males and 15.1% females). The present research also found that the most critical ages for starting polydrug use were 14 and 15years old. More than one quarter (27.9%) of the adolescent polydrug users were type A (tobacco and alcohol), 67.8% were type B (cannabis together with tobacco andor alcohol) and 3.4% were type C (cannabis together with tobacco andor alcohol, and cocaine). These results suggest that Spanish adolescents, particularly males, commence polydrug use at an earlier age than other European adolescents. Early preventative strategies and a multisubstance perspective are greatly needed in Spain to avoid the initiation of polydrug use or to prevent progress onto heavier drugs.