Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Psychoactive Drug Use Among High School Students in Bogota, Colombia

Abstract

This descriptive study identified health behaviors practiced by 10th-grade students enrolled in public schools in Bogotá, Colombia. A modified version of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey assessed the health-related behaviors of 1,730 students. In this paper data for tobacco, alcohol, and psychoactive substances use are discussed. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine statistical significance among selected behavioral risk areas and the independent variables that were nominally scaled. Data from the study revealed a high use of gateway substances (tobacco and alcohol) among high school students in Bogotá, but lower usage, when compared to US students, of other mind-altering substance such as marijuana, inhalants, and cocaine.