A cross-sectional survey of young people attending a music festival: associations between drug use and musical preference.

Full Abstract

INTRODUCTION

AND AIMS:
Drug use is becoming normalised among young Australian people involved in music sub-cultures. We aimed to determine prevalences of illicit drug use in this population and associations between preferences for different music genres and recent use of particular illicit drugs.

DESIGN AND METHODS:
A cross-sectional questionnaire of young people (aged 16-29 years) attending a music festival.

RESULTS:
Of 939 respondents, 46% had used illicit drugs (principally cannabis) in the past month, a significantly higher proportion than among respondents to the 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (18%). Participants who favoured dance/house or rap music were more likely to have used illicit drugs recently than the remainder of the sample, while those who favoured pop or alternative music were less likely to have used drugs in the past month.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest that music festival attendees use illicit drugs more commonly than their age-matched cohort in the general community, and that music festivals venues (particularly those that cater for dance/house and rap) would be appropriate places for interventions to promote safer drug use.

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Author information

Author/s: Lim, Megan S C (MS); Hellard, Margaret E (ME); Hocking, Jane S (JS); Aitken, Campbell K (CK);

Affiliation: James Cook University, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, Cairns, Queensland,Australia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Drug and alcohol review (Drug Alcohol Rev), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 27 (issue 4) : pp 439-41

Dates: Created 2008/06/27; Completed 2008/08/11;

PMID: 18584396, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Australia - epidemiology
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Harm Reduction
Humans

Humans
Male
Marijuana Abuse - epidemiology
Music
Prevalence
Questionnaires
Street Drugs
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology

Associated Chemicals: Street Drugs (0)

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