More than one in five school-going adolescents surveyed across selected districts in India were identified as being at moderate or high risk of substance use, according to a multicenter study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia. The findings suggest that substance use risk varies substantially across settings and is influenced by modifiable environmental and behavioral factors rather than individual characteristics alone.
The analysis included baseline data from 6,168 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years enrolled in 108 government and private schools across six districts: Gorakhpur, Guwahati (Kamrup), Nagpur, Rajkot, Deoghar, and Puducherry. Substance use risk was assessed using the World Health Organization's Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), while personality traits were evaluated using the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS).…
