The mental health of adolescents and young adults has generally deteriorated, and not just since the coronavirus pandemic. Girls and young women are particularly affected. There are several reasons why this is the case. For example, girls use social media more often and may be more exposed to comparisons there. Moreover, girls/women reflect more on themselves than boys and can provide more differentiated information on the issue of psychological well-being.
At the same time, the prevalence of substance use among young people has increased in some cases, while in others it remains at excessive levels.
The proportion of vulnerable young people has increased and they are at greater risk of using addictive substances such as nicotine products or resorting to social media. In its Addiction Panorama 2024, Addiction Switzerland states that protecting young people is not enough: “Politics must move up a gear: prevention must be strengthened and improved and young people must be empowered.”
We look at six areas of addiction and how young people in particular are affected by them.
Since 1992, the share of people who drink alcohol daily has fallen by more than half (men from 30 percent to 12 percent, women from 11 percent to 5 percent). On the other hand, men and women consume more on certain occasions: 11 percent of women and 19 percent of men get drunk at least once a month.
Among 15-year-olds, about a quarter of girls and boys say they have had a lot to drink at least once in the past 30 days. About 40 percent drink alcohol monthly.
The proportion of women who abstain is significantly higher than that of men (21 percent versus 13 percent). These shares are comparable to ten years ago.
Among young people, the consumption of puff bars (which are designed to meet the needs of young people with their taste and design) has created an additional group of nicotine users – cigarette consumption is not decreasing here. In adults, the slight decrease in cigarette consumption was compensated by other nicotine products.
Among young people, approximately one-third of 15-year-olds had consumed at least one nicotine product in the thirty days prior to the survey. Frequent use of e-cigarettes, i.e. on at least ten days in the past month, affects 7 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls aged 15. This frequent consumption has increased compared to 2018, especially among girls.
At the same time, the consumption of conventional cigarettes has not decreased. In 2022, 7 percent of boys and 6 percent of girls aged 15 used drugs for at least ten days in the past 30 days.
The high consumption frequencies continued thereafter: In a 2023 survey by the Aargau Lung League among upper secondary school students in German-speaking Switzerland, about 40 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds said they consumed a nicotine product at least monthly. More than 5 percent of minors indicate that they have smoked cigarillos, cigars or pipes in the past month.
You can also be involuntarily exposed to nicotine products: according to the Swiss health survey SGB, the share of the population exposed to passive smoke for at least one hour per day has fallen from 6 to 4 percent since 2017. This share is by far the highest among 15 to 24-year-olds, at 11.8 percent.
The increased visibility of drug use in the public space and the increasing consumption of cocaine base (crack or freebase) in already marginalized population groups determine current events. The availability and consumption of cocaine and associated problems are increasing in Switzerland and Europe.
Various studies from 2022 provide an overview of cannabis consumption in Switzerland. The 2022 HBSC survey shows that the share of 15-year-old students who say they have ever used cannabis continues to decline. In 2022, 20.8 percent of boys and 16.1 percent of girls were affected, compared to 27.3 and 17.3 percent respectively four years earlier.
In contrast, the share of 15-year-olds who have used cannabis in the past 30 days remained stable: in 2022 this was 12.1 percent of boys and 8.4 percent of girls, compared to 13.5 and 8.7 percent respectively four years earlier. Only a few students (< 1 percent) consume cannabis at least 10 days per month.
The SGB data show a relatively stable situation for cocaine consumption in the total population: 1 percent of 15 to 64-year-olds say they have used cocaine in the past year. This is barely more than in 2017 (0.9 percent), but corresponds to a long-term growth trend (2007: 0.4 percent; 2012: 0.7 percent).
Other indicators of cocaine consumption make us sit up and take notice. The wastewater analyzes show that Swiss cities are systematically among the European cities with the highest consumption per capita.
Dangerous mixed drug use and substance abuse are widespread among young people; 12 percent of 15-year-olds have already experienced this
According to self-reported information as part of the representative student survey Health Behavior in School-Age Children (HBSC), in 2022, 4.3 percent of 15-year-old boys and 4.8 percent of girls of the same age used drugs to get high. at least once in their lives. For boys, this represents a clear increase compared to 2006.
It can also be assumed that these include sedatives (such as Xanax), opioid pain relievers, or cough syrups containing codeine or dextromethorphan.
5.1 percent of boys and 8.8 percent of girls have experience combining medicines with alcohol. For certain young people, the latter categories probably do not fall under the concept of getting drunk. In total, 12 percent of 15-year-olds have checked at least one of these categories.
According to the latest data from the 2022 Health and Lifestyle Survey, chronic use (daily or almost daily in the past 30 days) of sleeping pills and tranquilizers has remained stable since 2018 at 2.1 percent of the population, among 70 years or older this is 5.5 percent. It can be assumed that there is dependence in many cases.
The SGB data shows that the proportion of the population aged 15 and over who used painkillers in the past seven days increased steadily from 14.5 percent to 26.3 percent between 2002 and 2022. However, the majority of these are probably not addictive drugs
Anabolic steroids belong to the group of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPED), which are used to improve body image and achieve athletic performance goals. Their prevalence appears to have increased, but the addictive potential of these substances is often underestimated, as a significant proportion (about 30 percent) of people using IPEDs develop a dependence syndrome.
It is estimated that around 200,000 people in Switzerland use anabolic steroids – mostly young men who participate in recreational rather than professional sports. In regular fitness studios, consumption is estimated at a maximum of 30 percent of users.
Gambling and money games are often played by younger people, especially men. They pose special risks and some lose control over gambling and spending. On average, the debt of those affected by debt assistance amounts to approximately 88,000 francs.
According to the 2022 Swiss Health Survey (SGB), half of 15 to 24 year olds have gambled for money in their lives. For the rest of the working-age adult population, this figure is around two-thirds. At the same time, the share of people with problematic gambling and gaming behavior over their lifetime in this youngest age group is 7.7 percent, comparable to that in the rest of the population.
In addition to the positive sides, video games and social networks also entail risks. Visually they are barely distinguishable from each other and resemble games of chance and money, of which they adopt some of the mechanisms.
This is no coincidence. These mechanisms encourage people to spend a lot of time online and spend money, at the risk of losing control. New data shows that about 3 percent of 15-year-olds who use video games do so in problematic ways. When it comes to social media, more than 7 percent of 15-year-olds do so.
More than 80 percent of 15-year-olds use social networks every day, and about seven percent of 15-year-olds have – as described above – problematic use. The latter has increased since 2018, especially among girls, which could also have something to do with the pandemic situation that was still present in the reference year 2022.
It can be noted that about half of 15-year-olds often used social networks to escape negative feelings (in 2018 this was about a third). It can also be problematic if you actually want to spend less time on social networks or if that makes you lie to people around you.
The makers of the Swiss Addiction Panorama make demands on politicians on each of the points mentioned above (read in detail here). For them it is clear: successful prevention focuses on regulations and environmental factors on the one hand and on the other hand strengthens individuals to behave healthily. According to the study, current measures are “clearly no longer sufficient”. Addiction Switzerland therefore calls for the following measures:
source: watson
I’m Maxine Reitz, a journalist and news writer at 24 Instant News. I specialize in health-related topics and have written hundreds of articles on the subject. My work has been featured in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Healthline. As an experienced professional in the industry, I have consistently demonstrated an ability to develop compelling stories that engage readers.
