Anastasios Fotiou

We aimed to examine prevalence and correlates of past-month electronic cigarette ("e-cigarette") use and use of e-cigarettes to aid a cessation attempt in three samples of young adult smokers recruited online in 2009-2010 (Study 1), 2010-2011 (Study 2), and 2013 (Study 3). Participants were young adults aged 18 to 25 who smoked at least one cigarette in the previous month (Study 1, N=1987 and Study 2, N=570) or smoked 3 or more days each week and used Facebook 4 or more days per week (Study 3, N=79). We examined both past-month e-cigarette use and ever use of e-cigarettes to quit conventional cigarettes. Prevalence of past-month use of e-cigarettes was higher in each subsequent study: Study 1 (6%), Study 2 (19%), and Study 3 (41%). In multivariate analyses, significant correlates of past-month e-cigarette use were identified for Study 1 (male sex OR=2.1, p=.03; past-year quit attempt OR=1.6, p=.03) and Study 2 (male sex, OR=1.7, p=.03; younger age OR=0.88, p=.05), but not Study 3. In multivariate analyses, significant correlates of ever use of e-cigarette to quit conventional cigarettes were identified for Study 1 (education, OR=1.2, p=.02; smoking within 30min of waking, OR=2.8, p=.02; past year quit attempt OR=4.1, p=.02), and Study 3 (desire to quit smoking, OR=1.3, p=.02), but not Study 2. E-cigarette use is increasingly common among young adults, particularly men. E-cigarette use for quitting conventional cigarettes appears more common among those more nicotine dependent and interested in quitting.

Frame analysis has been often used by scholars studying New Social Movements to analyze their discourses and their ability to mobilise people. This paper refers to the application of 'frame analysis' to a different context, namely to discourses of both social movements and institutional actors in the context of public policy-making. More particularly, the study is concerned with the discourses of social actors who participate in the making of EU environmental policy. The advantages and limitations of frame analysis as a method for analysing discourse in an institutional context are discussed. Two case-studies are used to highlight the pros and cons of the method. First, the competing discourses of environmental organisations, business associations, and EU officials with regard to environmental sustainability and the Fifth Action Programme are examined. The second case study addresses the issue of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-Ts) and examines different types of fram...

International studies show a rise in drunkenness among young people in recent years. In this study the number of drunkenness occasions among 15-year old students in 22 countries is reported. The cross-national association between drunkenness, on the one hand, and the frequency of alcohol intake and the preference for distilled spirits, on the other, is described. Variation between countries is examined on the basis of national characteristics, including national prevention policies. Data on alcohol use were taken from the 1998 World Health Organization (WHO) collaborative, cross-national survey on Health Behaviour of School-Aged Children. The multinational representative sample consisted of 10,951 male and 11,451 female (drinking) students. County characteristics were derived from the WHO Global Alcohol Database. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model was used to analyze the effects of country characteristics on individual drunkenness. The lifetime prevalence of drunkenness was 57.1%...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between anabolic steroid (AS) use and intensive physical exercise among adolescents. The 1999 cross-sectional European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). Data collection by standardized methodology using anonymous self-administered questionnaires completed in the classroom. National probability samples of a total of 18,430 16-year-old high school students from six European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, the Slovak Republic, and the U.K.) Besides AS use and physical exercise, questionnaire items selected for this study included tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use, indicators of other deviant behavior (self-harming thoughts and behavior, truancy, aggressive behavior), friends' use of AS, and perceived availability. Backward elimination with likelihood ratio tests was used to select the variables to be retained in a mutlifactorial model. Interactions of other independent variables with ...

Abstract Frame analysis has been often used by scholars studying New Social Movements to analyze their discourses and their ability to mobilise people. This paper refers to the application of'frame analysis' to a different context, namely to discourses of both social movements and institutional actors in the context of public policy-making. More particularly, the study is concerned with the discourses of social actors who participate in the making of EU environmental policy. The advantages and limitations of frame analysis as a method ...

The association between family, school and subjective health was examined in a large representative sample of Greek children and adolescents (N = 3034). We hypothesized that (a) family and school factors are associated with health, even after controlling for gender and economic status; (b) family and school factors are directly related to satisfaction with life and health complaints, but indirectly to self-rated health. According to the findings, family and school factors were related to subjective health, even though this relation was weakening with age. Family and school factors were associated with self-rated health through health complaints and life satisfaction.

This study examined associations between perceived peer and adolescent alcohol use in European and North American countries. Self-reported monthly alcohol use and adolescents’ report of their peers’ alcohol use were assessed in nationally representative samples of students aged 11.5 and 13.5 years (n = 11,277) in Greece, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States who participated in the 2005/2006 Health Behavior

Greece and Romania reported an increased number of HIV cases among injecting drug users (IDUs) during 2011. Most European countries reported no changes in the rate of newly diagnosed cases of HIV or HIV prevalence in IDUs; however, six countries did report increases and several additional countries reported increases in injecting risk indicators or low coverage of prevention services. These indicate a potential risk for increased HIV transmission and future outbreaks unless adequate prevention is implemented.

There is sparse evidence that demonstrates the association between macro-environmental processes and drug-related HIV epidemics. The present study explores the relationship between economic, socio-economic, policy and structural indicators, and increases in reported HIV infections among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the European Economic Area (EEA). We used panel data (2003-2012) for 30 EEA countries. Statistical analyses included logistic regression models. The dependent variable was taking value 1 if there was an outbreak (significant increase in the national rate of HIV diagnoses in PWID) and 0 otherwise. Explanatory variables included the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the share of the population that is at risk for poverty, the unemployment rate, the Eurostat S80/S20 ratio, the Gini coefficient, the per capita government expenditure on health and social protection, and variables on drug control policy and drug-using population sizes. Lags of one to three years...

This study reports secular trends in medicine use for headache among adolescents in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010. The international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey includes self-reported data about medicine use for headaches among nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds. We included 20 countries with data from at least three data collection waves, with a total of 380 129 participants. The prevalence of medicine use for headaches varied from 16.5% among Hungarian boys in 1994 to 62.9% among girls in Wales in 1998. The prevalence was higher among girls than boys in every country and data collection year. The prevalence of medicine use for headaches increased in 12 of 20 countries, most notably in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Wales. The prevalence of medicine use for headaches among adolescents is high and increasing in many countries. As some medicines are toxic this may constitute a public health problem.

Cannabis and tobacco use frequently co-occur. Adolescents who consume both substances experience more respiratory distress and psychosocial problems and are less likely to stop compared with those who use either tobacco or cannabis alone. This study examined time trends in tobacco and cannabis use among 15-year-olds in Europe and North America between 2002 and 2010. Twenty-eight countries were included and merged into six regions based on their welfare systems. Adolescents (n = 142 796) were divided in four 'user groups': 'no-users', 'tobacco and cannabis users', 'tobacco-only users' and 'cannabis-only users'. Prevalence rates are reported by study-wave and region. Logistic regressions with study wave as independent variable were used to study trends in the user groups and regions. Interaction effects between time and gender were considered. Overall, tobacco use, and concurrent tobacco and cannabis use decreased by 3 and 3.7%, respectively, bu...

The evolution of the drug use epidemic in Greece (prevalence and incidence of use of illicit drugs and illicit use of psychoactive pharmaceuticals) over a 20-year period is presented taking into account the sociocultural context and policies. Data were drawn from face-to-face household surveys carried out in 1984, 1998 and 2004 on national stratified probability samples of approximately 4,000 participants aged 12-65 years. After a large increase in lifetime illicit drug use prevalence from 4.0% in 1984 to 12.2% in 1998, the phenomenon seems to have taken a downward turn, to 8.6% in 2004. The incidence of illicit drug use remained unchanged between 1998 and 2004 in adolescents, declined in the young adult group (18-24 years) and dropped sharply at older ages. Cannabis accounts for almost all the total prevalence of illicit drug use; other illicit drugs have lifetime prevalence below 1%. The large gender differences in illicit drug use have narrowed over the years, especially in the y...