Population and Life Course Studies: CAMH Research Annual Report 2002

The overall goal of the Population and Life Course Studies Unit is to describe the extent of addiction and mental health indicators in the population and to monitor trends. This includes: providing and disseminating accurate and timely data regarding alcohol use, other drug use and mental health indicators among general and special populations; and monitoring and identifying risk and protective factors for alcohol, other drug use and mental health indicators.

By measuring addiction and mental health indicators, we provide the knowledge base for health professionals, program planners and municipal, provincial and national government bodies. This information can also help us target prevention and other programs and evaluate existing programs, policies and health objectives. The result is an information base that helps ensure needed programs are established in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Our investigators are a multidisciplinary group comprising epidemiologists, sociologists, psychologists, criminologists and historians. Investigators also serve as experts for international agencies such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Drug Control Programme. Unit staff hold appointments with University of Toronto departments, including Public Health Sciences, Psychology, Psychiatry, Sociology and History.

Our accomplishments during the 2001/2002 period include the following.

Student Surveys

The 13th cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS), the longest ongoing school survey in Canada, was completed and released to the public. The Ontario Student Drug Use Survey Drug Report was released in November 2001, and the first Ontario Student Drug Use Survey Mental Health Report was released in spring 2001.

The 2001 OSDUS Drug Report found that, over the past decade, the smoking rate among youth has decreased. Increases in drug use stalled toward the end of this period, with the exception of ecstasy use. Still, a significant percentage of young Ontarians are engaging in risky behaviours such as binge drinking, driving after using cannabis, and being a passenger in a vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking.

The 2001 OSDUS Mental Health Report found that the majority of young Ontarians do not report an emotional problem, nor do they report delinquent activity. In fact, violence has decreased over the past decade.

However, the survey revealed that a significant number of youth do experience problems. For instance, just under one-third report psychological distress, one-quarter are bullied at school, and one in ten report serious thoughts about suicide and seeing a mental health professional in the past year.

2003 OSDUS Report in PDF format

Drug Use

Executive summary - English (58KB) French (58KB)
Detailed report (3.0MB)
Highlights (English only, 1.5MB)

Mental Health

Executive summary - English (166.5 KB) French (166.6KB)
Detailed Report (1.37MB)
Highlights (English only, 1.4MB)

Internet Resources

We completed and released our first electronic monitoring report: CAMH Monitor eReport: Addiction and Mental Health Indicators among Ontario Adults, 1977-2000.

The report, based on telephone surveys of adults aged 18 and older throughout the province of Ontario, describes the extent of alcohol use, drug use, mental health indicators and gambling problems, and provides a knowledge base for health professionals.

eBulletins

The Population and Life Course Studies Unit publishes a bimonthly "eBulletin" that provides survey highlights of the Ontario population. It offers readers a brief summary of findings from various CAMH surveys, covering topical subjects pertaining to substance use, mental health, physical health, gambling, and risk behaviours. In addition to being posted on our website, the eBulletin is distributed to public health and education professionals. Click here for more.

Self-Help Treatment of Alcohol Problems

We successfully completed an innovative niaaa-funded study (Cunningham), which investigated the treatment of alcohol problems with self-help materials among a non-clinical sample.

The study found that those who received both self-help material and personalized feedback regarding their drinking reported significantly improved drinking outcomes after six months as compared to those who received the self-help book only, the personalized feedback only or received no intervention.

Youth, Drugs and Violence

A NIDA-funded cross national study of Youth, Drugs and Violence (Erickson), which partners with a research team at the University of Delaware, was further expanded by adding two collaborating teams from the University of Amsterdam and the University of Montreal.

This study will compare the association between violence and drug use across the four sites and among three samples of youth: students, non-students and those in detention.

Gin Use in 18th Century London

Jessica Warner completed a major scholarly publication, Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason (2002, New York: Four Walls Eight Windows).

Based on archival research funded by the American National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, this book looks at gin use in 18th Century London. The ensuing "gin craze," Warner argues, was the first modern drug scare, with parallels to more recent drug scares, including, most notably, the so-called "crack cocaine epidemic" of the late 1980s.

Gender, Alcohol and Aggression

We are collaborating with the Department of Sociology, the Centre of Criminology (University of Toronto), Department of Anthropology and Sociology (Concordia University), the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems (Lausanne) and the Addiction Research Institute (Zurich), to investigate the links between gender, alcohol and aggression. In particular, the study seeks to identify the circumstances in which women are most like men in how they express aggression.