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Health literacy and substance use in young Swiss men

International Journal of Public Health volume 58, pages 939–948 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of the present study was to describe health literacy and its association with substance use among young men.

Methods

The present study was part of the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors that included 11,930 Swiss males participating in initial screening from August 2010 to July 2011. Self-completed questionnaires covered use of three substances and three components of health literacy.

Results

Roughly 22 % reported having searched the Internet for health information and 16 % for information on substances over the past 12 months. At-risk and not at-risk users of alcohol (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.50 and 1.46), tobacco (AOR = 2.51 and 1.79) and cannabis (AOR = 4.86 and 3.53) searched for information about substances significantly more often via the Internet than abstainers. Furthermore, at-risk users reported better knowledge of risks associated with substance use and a marginally better ability to understand health information than abstainers.

Conclusions

Substance users appear to be more informed and knowledgeable about the risks of substance use than non-users. Consequently, interventions that focus only on information provision may be of limited benefit for preventing substance use.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Charlotte Eidenbenz for her extensive efforts in coordinating the study. This work has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (33CS30_139467).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zurich, Switzerland

    Petra Dermota, Jen Wang, Michelle Dey & Meichun Mohler-Kuo

  2. Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Gerhard Gmel & Joseph Studer

Authors
  1. Petra Dermota
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  2. Jen Wang
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  3. Michelle Dey
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  4. Gerhard Gmel
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  6. Meichun Mohler-Kuo
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Correspondence to Meichun Mohler-Kuo.

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Dermota, P., Wang, J., Dey, M. et al. Health literacy and substance use in young Swiss men. Int J Public Health 58, 939–948 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0487-9

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