RESEARCHERS HOPE STUDY WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUNG KIDS
EXPERIMENTING WITH DRUGS

British Columbia health researchers hope a new study will help them
find out what leads some kids to just experiment with drugs, tobacco
and alcohol while others become addicted.

"It'll look at what are the risk factors that shift kids from
experimenting with drugs to more problematic use. During adolescence,
the brain is very vulnerable to addiction," said Dr. Chris Galliford
Richardson, a UBC researcher who has received more than $1 million in
funding for the study from the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

The study is slated to commence in the fall of 2009. It will follow
between 5,000 and 10,000 kids through high school, asking them to
fill out online surveys every six months.

The students will be asked questions on a wide variety of health and
development related topics, including physical development, social
situations, substance abuse, self-esteem, risk-taking,
sensation-seeking, independence, depression and stress.

While the current funding will support the study for three years, if
it meets with success more money might be made available to follow
the students all the way through high school.

Examining both biological and psycho-social factors affecting the
same group adolescents over time and making connections to their
substance use hasn't been done on this scale in Canada, Richardson said.

"This is one of the first large cohort studies focusing on substance
use and psycho-social development in adolescence in Canada," he said.

Gender -- which Richardson defines as "what's between your ears"
versus 'sex' as "what's between your legs" -- will also be an factor
they look at.

The survey will be introduced in the schools, but kids who drop out
will hopefully be kept on board through contact via email and social
networking websites like Facebook.

That's just one advantage of using the internet to conduct the
research, Richardson explained. Other advantages include access to
kids in rural and remote areas and the flexibility and low cost of the survey.

The researchers will work with school and health authorities to find
practical ways of implementing what they learn from the study data.

"The big one is giving feedback both to schools and parents on what
are the big risk factors for substance use."

Eventually, the online survey may have a function to analyse each
student's input and provide personalized health resource
recommendations based on the info each provides.

"Here's some feedback to help with making it through high school,
because it is such a stressful time. That's where we really see it
going in the future."

Research into using the internet as a survey tool has shown that kids
are generally honest, Richardson said.

"If we can demonstrate that it's a research study done by the
university and they'll never have their name associated with their
data, the early research on internet use has shown kids are quite
open and honest."