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Aims: The diffusion of cannabis initiation has been accompanied by a reversal in the educational gradient: contrary to older generations, the less educated in recent generations are more likely to initiate than the more educated. We tested whether the educational gradient for the transition from initiation to daily use evolved in the same way., Design/setting: A French telephone random survey conducted in 2010 (21 818 respondents aged 15-64 years), asking interviewees about their ages at initiation to daily use, if any., Participants: A total of 6824 cannabis initiators aged 18-64 years at data collection. Three birth cohort groups (generations) were compared: 1946-60 (n = 767), 1961-75 (n = 2632) and 1976-92 (n = 3425) with, respectively, 47, 42 and 45% of women., Measures: Risks of transition to daily use from ages 11-34 were compared through time-discrete logistic regressions and educational gradients were quantified through a relative index of inequality (RII). Control variables include age and time-varying variables (ages at tobacco daily use, at first drunkenness and at first other use of an illicit drug in a list of 13 products)., Findings: Twenty-four per cent of the initiators reported daily use before age 35, the proportions tripling from the oldest to the youngest generation (from 11.7 to 38.6% in men, from 7.7 to 22.2% in women). Whatever the generation, the less educated initiators more often shifted to daily use than the most educated: from the oldest to the youngest generation, RII = 2.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.65, 7.02]; 2.19 95% CI = [1.33, 3.63]; and 2.24, 95% CI = [1.60, 3.15] in men; RII = 3.31, 95% CI = [0.75, 14.68]; 3.17, 95% CI = [1.49, 6.76]; and 3.56, 95% CI = [2.07, 6.14] in women, respectively., Conclusion: In France, the risk of transition from cannabis initiation to daily use has remained consistently higher among less educated cannabis initiators over three generations (1946-60, 1961-75, 1976-92), in contrast to what is observed for initiation., (© 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Aims: This paper aimed to assess whether the increase of social differentiation of smoking is observed in France., Design and Setting: Five cross-sectional telephone surveys conducted in France between 2000 and 2007., Participants: The surveys were conducted among national representative samples of French subjects aged 18-75 years (n=12 256, n=2906, n=27 499, n=2887, n=6007 in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively). We focused on three groups: executives, manual workers and the unemployed., Measurements: Time trends of smoking prevalence were assessed, and socio-economic factors (especially occupation and job status) associated with smoking were identified and compared in 2000 and 2005. We also computed respondents' equivalized household consumption (EHI) and their cigarette budget to assess the financial burden of smoking., Findings: Between 2000 and 2007, smoking prevalence decreased by 22% among executive managers and professionals and by 11% among manual workers, and did not decrease among the unemployed. Indicators of an underprivileged social situation were associated more markedly with smoking in 2005 than in 2000. In addition, the falling-off of smoking initiation occurred later and was less marked among manual workers than it was among executive managers and professionals. Finally, in 2005 15% of French smokers devoted at least 20% of their EHI to the purchase of cigarettes, versus only 5% in 2000, and smoking weighted increasingly heavily on the poorest smokers' budgets., Conclusions: While these results point out an increased social differentiation in tobacco use, they underline the need to design and implement other forms of action to encourage people to quit, in particular targeting individuals belonging to underprivileged groups., (© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Aims: To study the relationship between sporting activity and alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults, by focusing on elite student athletes (ESAs)., Design, Setting, Subjects: Cross-sectional survey (Spring 2002), in a sample of 460 ESAs (ages 16-24 years) recruited at 40 public centres gathering the young sporting elite from 30 different sports in South-Eastern France, comparison with samples of the general population of adolescents in South-Eastern France., Measures: Respondents were asked confidentially by a self-administered questionnaire about their use of licit and illicit drugs, their sporting activity and other aspects of their life-style., Findings: Prevalences of cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use were markedly lower for ESAs than for other adolescents (generally twice or three times as low). Among ESAs, when compared with the practice of an individual sport, the practice of a team sport was correlated positively with alcohol use (OR = 2.7 for girls, OR = 1.8 for boys), and the practice of a sliding sport was correlated positively with cannabis use (for girls: OR = 2.3) and with alcohol use (for boys: 4.3). Girls who entered competition at international level were more prone to smoke cigarettes and cannabis (OR = 6.1 and 2.4, respectively)., Conclusions: As a whole, practising sports as an elite student-athlete can be considered as correlated negatively with cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use. Nevertheless, this relationship depends on the kind of sport practised as well as the level of competition, and further research is needed to understand specific elite athletes' motives for use.

Aims: This study aimed at increasing understanding of the relationship between sporting activities and alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among adolescents, by examining gender, age and the context of sporting practice., Design, Setting, Subjects: The study was a national school survey (n=10807; ages 14-19 years) conducted in France in 1999., Measures: Respondents were asked confidentially by self-administered questionnaire (pen and paper) about their use of licit and illicit drugs and life-style (including sporting activities outside school: hours per week, registration in a club, type of sport)., Findings: The U-shaped curve between the intensity of physical activities and licit and illicit drug use appeared not to be systematic. It depended mainly on the product and the level of use. It only remained significant for boys and heavy smoking once gender and age effect were taken into account., Conclusion: The results stress the need to control for age and gender when the survey participants are teenagers. The relationship between drug use and sporting activity also depends on the type of sport.