Violence, Alcohol, Cannabis, and Depression among French Youth

By Hugues Lagrange, Stéphane Legleye
English

The development of interpersonal violence from young people, mostly boys, in France during the years 1990 is remarkable. This increase is parallel with the increase of illicit drugs consumption like cannabis. Attention given to public health issues drove to question this extension of precocious or excessive drug consumptions and to link these consumptions with adolescent’s psychological discomfort, of which violence and properties offences testify equally. Number of researchers think that, between the spread of violence and drug consumption, there is not only a temporal concomitance but also a link. But researchers are divided on the interpretation of this link. Several researchers consider that this “mal-être” is associated with depression, others think that it expresses a compulsion for action closer to extraversion. We attempt to answer these questions through two wide surveys ESCAPAD (Survey on health and drug consumption among 18 year old people in France) and ESPAD 1999 (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs). The hypothesis of a link between a depressive mood and delinquent or violent conducts must be elaborated to understand the nature of youth interpersonal violence at the turn of the 21st century. It is necessary to envision violence as an element of a deliberate conduct aiming to overcome anxiety and frustration.

Keywords

  • ADOLESCENT
  • GENERAL POPULATION SURVEY
  • VIOLENCE
  • DRUGS
  • MEN - TAL HEALTH
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