Pubdate: Fri, 08 Aug 2008 Source: Alberni Valley Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Alberni Valley Times Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/albernivalleytimes/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4043 Author: Joe Couture 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." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart