Cargando…

Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents

BACKGROUND: Whilst alcohol and drug use among young people is known to escalate during short holidays and working breaks in international nightlife resorts, little empirical data are available on the impact of longer backpacking holidays on substance use. Here we examine changes in alcohol, tobacco...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bellis, Mark A, Hughes, Karen E, Dillon, Paul, Copeland, Jan, Gates, Peter
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1769490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17199891
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-1
_version_ 1782131700755595264
author Bellis, Mark A
Hughes, Karen E
Dillon, Paul
Copeland, Jan
Gates, Peter
author_facet Bellis, Mark A
Hughes, Karen E
Dillon, Paul
Copeland, Jan
Gates, Peter
author_sort Bellis, Mark A
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Whilst alcohol and drug use among young people is known to escalate during short holidays and working breaks in international nightlife resorts, little empirical data are available on the impact of longer backpacking holidays on substance use. Here we examine changes in alcohol, tobacco and drug use when UK residents go backpacking in Australia. METHODS: Matched information on alcohol and drug use in Australia and the UK was collected through a cross sectional cohort study of 1008 UK nationals aged 18–35 years, holidaying in Sydney or Cairns, Australia, during 2005. RESULTS: The use of alcohol and other drugs by UK backpackers visiting Australia was common with use of illicit drugs being substantially higher than in peers of the same age in their home country. Individuals showed a significant increase in frequency of alcohol consumption in Australia compared to their behaviour in the UK with the proportion drinking five or more times per week rising from 20.7% (UK) to 40.3% (Australia). Relatively few individuals were recruited into drug use in Australia (3.0%, cannabis; 2.7% ecstasy; 0.7%, methamphetamine). However, over half of the sample (55.0%) used at least one illicit drug when backpacking. Risk factors for illicit drug use while backpacking were being regular club goers, being male, Sydney based, travelling without a partner or spouse, having been in Australia more than four weeks, Australia being the only destination on their vacation and drinking or smoking five or more days a week. CONCLUSION: As countries actively seek to attract more international backpacker tourists, interventions must be developed that target this population's risk behaviours. Developing messages on drunkenness and other drug use specifically for backpackers could help minimise their health risks directly (e.g. adverse drug reactions) and indirectly (e.g. accidents and violence) as well as negative impacts on the host country.
format Text
id pubmed-1769490
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2007
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-17694902007-01-16 Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents Bellis, Mark A Hughes, Karen E Dillon, Paul Copeland, Jan Gates, Peter BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Whilst alcohol and drug use among young people is known to escalate during short holidays and working breaks in international nightlife resorts, little empirical data are available on the impact of longer backpacking holidays on substance use. Here we examine changes in alcohol, tobacco and drug use when UK residents go backpacking in Australia. METHODS: Matched information on alcohol and drug use in Australia and the UK was collected through a cross sectional cohort study of 1008 UK nationals aged 18–35 years, holidaying in Sydney or Cairns, Australia, during 2005. RESULTS: The use of alcohol and other drugs by UK backpackers visiting Australia was common with use of illicit drugs being substantially higher than in peers of the same age in their home country. Individuals showed a significant increase in frequency of alcohol consumption in Australia compared to their behaviour in the UK with the proportion drinking five or more times per week rising from 20.7% (UK) to 40.3% (Australia). Relatively few individuals were recruited into drug use in Australia (3.0%, cannabis; 2.7% ecstasy; 0.7%, methamphetamine). However, over half of the sample (55.0%) used at least one illicit drug when backpacking. Risk factors for illicit drug use while backpacking were being regular club goers, being male, Sydney based, travelling without a partner or spouse, having been in Australia more than four weeks, Australia being the only destination on their vacation and drinking or smoking five or more days a week. CONCLUSION: As countries actively seek to attract more international backpacker tourists, interventions must be developed that target this population's risk behaviours. Developing messages on drunkenness and other drug use specifically for backpackers could help minimise their health risks directly (e.g. adverse drug reactions) and indirectly (e.g. accidents and violence) as well as negative impacts on the host country. BioMed Central 2007-01-02 /pmc/articles/PMC1769490/ /pubmed/17199891 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-1 Text en Copyright © 2007 Bellis et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bellis, Mark A
Hughes, Karen E
Dillon, Paul
Copeland, Jan
Gates, Peter
Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title_full Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title_fullStr Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title_full_unstemmed Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title_short Effects of backpacking holidays in Australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of UK residents
title_sort effects of backpacking holidays in australia on alcohol, tobacco and drug use of uk residents
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1769490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17199891
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-1
work_keys_str_mv AT bellismarka effectsofbackpackingholidaysinaustraliaonalcoholtobaccoanddruguseofukresidents
AT hugheskarene effectsofbackpackingholidaysinaustraliaonalcoholtobaccoanddruguseofukresidents
AT dillonpaul effectsofbackpackingholidaysinaustraliaonalcoholtobaccoanddruguseofukresidents
AT copelandjan effectsofbackpackingholidaysinaustraliaonalcoholtobaccoanddruguseofukresidents
AT gatespeter effectsofbackpackingholidaysinaustraliaonalcoholtobaccoanddruguseofukresidents