Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS): National Overview 2015

Consequences: Immediate Impact of Alcohol and Drugs

Among both age groups, girls were more likely than boys to have ever been drunk (this is the first time this has been the case among 13 year olds).

Figure 13 Proportion of pupils who have ever had an alcoholic drink and have been drunk at least once, by age and sex (2015)

Those who had ever had a drink were more likely to have experienced a negative effect in the last year from having done so than those who had ever taken drugs. This, in part, may be due to the fact that pupils tend to drink more frequently than they take drugs.

There has been no change in the proportion of pupils who have experienced negative effects due to either alcohol or drugs between 2013 and 2015 with the exception of a small increase among 13 year old girls (44% in 2013 to 48% in 2015).

Figure 14 Proportion of 15 year old pupils (who had ever taken each substance) experiencing at least one negative effect from doing so in the last year (2015)

For both alcohol and drugs, the most common negative experiences were vomiting, having an argument and doing something you later regretted.

There were only small gender differences in relation to drug use. However, there were clear gender patterns in the effects of alcohol.

Figure 15 Gender differences in alcohol effects experienced (2015)