0000000000277404

AUTHOR

Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

0000-0002-5717-076x

Adolescents' medicine use for headache: secular trends in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010

BACKGROUND: This study reports secular trends in medicine use for headache among adolescents in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010.METHODS: The international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey includes self-reported data about medicine use for headaches among nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds. We included 20 countries with data from at least three data collection waves, with a total of 380 129 participants.RESULTS: The prevalence of medicine use for headaches varied from 16.5% among Hungarian boys in 1994 to 62.9% among girls in Wales in 1998. The prevalence was higher among girls than boys in every country and data collection year. The prevalenc…

research product

Drinking motives and links to alcohol use in 13 European countries.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the structure and endorsement of drinking motives and their links to alcohol use among 11- to 19-year-olds from 13 European countries. Method: Confi rmatory factor analysis, latent growth curves, and multiple regres- sion models were conducted, based on a sample of 33,813 alcohol-using students from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Wales who completed the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ-R SF). Results: The fi ndings confi rmed the hypothesized four- dimensional factor structure. Social motives for drinking were most frequently indicated, …

research product

The medicine use and corresponding subjective health complaints among adolescents, a cross-national survey

BACKGROUND: Medicine use among children and young people is under-researched. Studies that investigated cross-national patterns in adolescents' medicine use practice are rare. This study aims to investigate adolescents' medicine use for corresponding health complaints in Europe and USA. METHODS: Nationally representative samples of adolescents from 19 countries and regions in Europe and USA completed an anonymous, standardised questionnaire as part of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2005/2006 survey. The prevalence of health complaints and medicine use were determined. The influence of the frequency of medicine use, age, gender and country of residence, on the likelihood of med…

research product

Drinking motives mediate cultural differences but not gender differences in adolescent alcohol use

Item does not contain fulltext PURPOSE: To test whether differences in alcohol use between boys and girls and between northern and southern/central Europe are mediated by social, enhancement, coping, and conformity motives. METHODS: Cross-sectional school-based surveys were conducted among 33,813 alcohol-using 11-to 19-year-olds from northern Europe (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, and Wales) and southern/central Europe (Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, and Switzerland). RESULTS: Particularly in late adolescence and early adulthood, boys drank more frequently and were more often drunk than girls. Instead of mediation, gender-specific motive paths were found…

research product