“AT WHAT AGE DO YOU THINK IT’S OK?”: THE SOCIAL CLOCK FOR DRINKING AND DRUG USE AMONG ONTARIO TEENAGERS[1]

RobinRoom* and Angela Paglia**

*Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, StockholmUniversity, Stockholm, Sweden

**Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada

BACKGROUND

Part of growing up is to try out and to take on new behaviours. While the process is often fraught with anxiety for the person growing up, it is often even more anxiety-producing for parents and other adults in the vicinity. The anxiety or disapproval may be about trying out the behaviour at all. But often it is also about the age at which the behaviour is taken on. Behaviour which is seen as too “grown up” for one age may be accepted without too much fuss if it occurs at a later age.

In the context of discussions of social problems and youth, the focus tends to be on behaviours that are taken on “too young”. But in a wider frame, there is also growing unease if a young person does not try out and take on a behaviour at what is felt to be an appropriate age. It may be seen as equally inappropriate to fail to have a full-time job by the age of 25 as it would be to hold a full-time job at age 12. Sociologists talk of these normative standards for when a behaviour or status should be taken on as the “social clock” (Neugarten et al., 1965). The normative standards for the social clock for any given behaviour or status are likely to vary in time and by cultural group.

In an earlier report (Paglia and Room, 1998), we considered the opinions of Ontario residents aged 25 or older about contested behaviours. Altogether, 15 behaviours were asked about, including not only cigarette smoking, beer drinking, and trying marijuana, but also a variety of other behaviours -- e.g., driving a car alone, getting a fulltime job, having sex with a girl/boyfriend, and moving in with a girl/boyfriend. When asked how old someone should be before it’s OK to engage in each behaviour, some respondents answered “never” for most behaviours, with the proportion ranging up to 52% for trying marijuana. Where ages were given, there was a fairly close clustering in the mean ages for different behaviours, ranging from 17.4 for buying a lottery ticket to 20.1 for moving in with a girl/boyfriend. A random half of the sample was asked the questions concerning males, and the other half concerning females. For most behaviours, respondents were slightly more likely to say “never” concerning behaviours for females, but the mean acceptable age tended to be slightly lower for females. We noted that for cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and marijuana use, the mean age of initiation for those who did begin to use each substance was about 6 years below the mean age found acceptable by adults.

Our findings raised the question of the views of young people themselves about the “social clock” for contested behaviours. Did the discrepancy between when behaviours were first tried on and when adults felt they were OK indicate a systematic normative difference across the generational gap? Ed Adlaf and his colleagues afforded us the opportunity to investigate this question with data collected from Ontario teenagers in the course of the 1997 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (Adlaf et al., 1997b).

METHODS

Participants and Procedure

A total of 3,390 students from 168 high schools across the province of Ontario was surveyed during the spring of 1997 by means of an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The cross-sectional probability survey is conducted biannually by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (into which the Addiction Research Foundation was merged in 1998) and is used to track consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs by those in Grades 7, 9, 11, and 13. The survey design was a stratified (grade by region) single-stage cluster sample of home-room classes. The survey participation rate was 77%.

Students in grade 7 are usually aged 12 or 13, and students in each succeeding grade studied are about two years older. Grade 13, now being phased out in Ontario, was viewed as a preparation for university study, and is only attended by about 40% of the number of students who are enrolled in Grade 11 (Adlaf et al., 1997b, p. 149). Students enrolled in Grade 13 are thus a subgroup of their cohort, selected to a considerable extent on the basis of academic achievement, whereas most members of their age cohort are among the students in Grades 7, 9 and 11.

Only a random half of the total sample received the questions examined in this report, thereby reducing the sample size to 2,031. Further, the data were weighted by an average design effect of 1.40 to adjust for the complex sampling procedures (i.e., non-simple random sampling). As a result the effective sample size was 1,439. The mean age for the sample was 15.0 years (SD=2.1); 53% were female.

Results from this student survey are compared in this paper with results from a general-population survey of 1189 Ontario adults, interviewed by telephone by the Institute for Social Research of York University in June, July, September and November, 1996 (Adlaf et al., 1997a). The estimated response rate for the survey, conducted by random digit dialling, was 64%. Those over 65 and with lesser education were somewhat underrepresented in the final sample.

Measures

Following other standard survey items about demographics and drug consumption, students were presented with a series of questions in the form, “Regardless of what the law says, at what age do you think it is OK for a male/female...” to engage in each behaviour. Students had the choice of writing an age, choosing “it is never OK”, or the “don’t know” option. The behaviours about which respondents were asked were:

•to smoke a cigarette

•to have a drink of beer

•to buy a six-pack of beer (6 cans packed together)

•to try some marijuana

These four behaviours were asked for a male protagonist and then for a female. The responses concerning a female protagonist may thus have been influenced by the respondent’s prior answers concerning a male protagonist.

Included in the analyses as independent variables were demographic measures, including gender, grade, rural/urban residence, family socioeconomic status, school marks, and whether or not a part-time job was held. Measures of the respondent’s history of substance use (i.e., ever using tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana) were also used in the multivariate analyses.

In the adult survey, the same four questions about normative age were asked, in the course of a series of 15 behaviours altogether. Unlike the student sample, adults were not explicitly offered a “don’t know” choice, though it was coded if volunteered. A random half of the adult sample was asked the questions for a male protagonist, while the others answered for a female protagonist. Thus in this sample, the responses concerning males and concerning females are independent.

RESULTS

Whether the behaviour is acceptable at all: students and adults

The left-hand portion of Table 1 shows the proportion of students in each grade who responded it was “never OK” to engage in each of the four behaviours. On a lifetime basis, drinking alcohol was clearly the most acceptable behaviour, and trying marijuana the least acceptable. Overall, the students were somewhat less accepting of each behaviour than the adults, except that adults were slightly less accepting of female cigarette smoking.

In the adult sample, acceptance of ever smoking a cigarette, trying marijuana, or buying a six-pack of beer decreased with increasing age; for having a drink of beer, there was no significant trend. In the student sample, 7th graders showed a relatively high intolerance of each behaviour -- in 7 of 8 comparisons, a higher level than among adults aged 55 and older. But the trend from grade 7 to grade 11 was quite strongly towards greater acceptance. For the alcohol variables, this trend continued in grade 13, but not for the cigarette and marijuana variables. But the selectivity involved in being in the grade 13 sample should be kept in mind in interpreting the results.

Those in the student sample made little differentiation, on average, in the acceptability of the behaviours for a male and for a female protagonist. This contrasted with the tendency particularly for older adults to be less accepting of a female than of a male smoking cigarettes and buying a 6 pack, and of younger adults to be less accepting of a female trying marijuana. However, as noted above, the greater gender equality in the student sample may be artifactually influenced by the fact that the respondent answered for a female directly after answering for a male.

Mean acceptable age: students and adults

Turning to the mean acceptable age, among those giving an age (Table 2), among the students the average ages when it is acceptable to smoke a cigarette, try marijuana, and have a drink of beer are about the same, while the acceptable age for buying a six-pack of beer is over a year older. The students give an acceptable age for each behaviour that is on average between about one year and about 2½ years lower than that given by adults. The disparity in average ages is highest for trying marijuana, and for males to have a drink of beer, while it is least for females to buy a six-pack of beer.

Across the table as a whole, the mean acceptable age shows a curvilinear form for all behaviours, with the nadir for all behaviours at the 9th or 11th grade. For smoking a cigarette, trying marijuana and having a drink of beer, the mean acceptable ages given by 9th and 11th graders is an age at which the protagonist would be in 9th or 10th grade. For buying a six-pack of beer, a protagonist with the mean acceptable age would be in the 12th grade.

Standard deviations from the mean acceptable age tend to be slightly larger for the student sample than for the adult sample, particularly for alcohol behaviours.

Predicting acceptability of behaviour among students

In Tables 3-5 , we turn to the question of what characteristics of students predict whether or not they see cigarette smoking, trying marijuana, and having a drink of beer as ever acceptable. These analyses are confined to grades 7, 9 and 11, given the selectivity inherent in the grade 13 sample.

The results for cigarette smoking are shown in Table 3. The first column shows the univariate odds ratio. Thus, for example, urban students are only two-thirds as likely as rural students to find cigarette smoking ever acceptable. Students with lower school marks, and with a lower than average family socioeconomic status, are significantly more accepting of cigarette smoking than other students. As might be expected, approval of smoking among adults, and whether the respondent has ever smoked, are both highly predictive of acceptance of smoking.

The first multivariate logistics regression (Model A) confines the predictors to variables which are usually prior to the respondent’s own choices. It remains true, for the multivariate analysis, that older students, rural students, and those from lower socio-economic status families are more accepting of smoking. Males are somewhat less accepting than females, though the relationship is not significant. At the bottom of the column, Nagelkerke’s R2 attempts to quantify the proportion of explained “variance” in a logistic regression model. (Unlike multiple regression, the variance here is restricted. Thus, this statistic must be interpreted with caution and should only be taken as a general estimate of a model’s goodness-of-fit.) These logically prior variables do not explain much of the variance in acceptance of smoking.

Lower school marks and the student working part-time, when added to the model (Model B), significantly predict acceptance of smoking, while family SES loses its significance. This might be interpreted in terms of family SES exerting an effect through lower school marks and part-time working status. When variables closer to the dependent variable are added in Models C, D, and E, the student’s grade-level, school marks, and part-time work status lose predictive power, suggesting that the smoking attitude and behaviour variables intermediate between these variables and acceptance of smoking. It is only with the addition of the smoking attitude and behaviour variables that the variance explained becomes substantial.

Table 4 shows results with the same series of analyses for acceptance of drinking beer. Both grade level and rural residence are stronger predictors of acceptance of drinking beer than they are for acceptance of cigarette smoking. On the other hand, gender and family socio-economic status have little predictive power. The relationship of school marks with acceptance of drinking is reversed, although the differences are not significant. As with acceptance of smoking, approval of daily drinking among adults, and consumption of alcohol oneself, are both highly predictive of acceptance of drinking. But the total explained variance, after they are included, is less than for acceptance of cigarette smoking.

Table 5 shows the results with acceptance of trying marijuana as the dependent variable. In the univariate odds ratio, females are significantly more likely than males to accept trying marijuana. Again, grade level and rural residence significantly predict higher acceptance. Low school marks fairly strongly predict acceptance of marijuana, while family socioeconomic status shows no significant effect. The attitude and behaviour variables are particularly strongly predictive of accepting trying marijuana, intermediating the effects of the other variables sufficiently that only the odds ratios for school marks remain significant. The variance explained, once the attitude and behaviour items have been entered, is considerably higher than for cigarette smoking and beer drinking.

Predicting OK to use at an age under 19

In Tables 6-8, we examine the predictors of acceptance of use at younger ages, among those who accept use at any age. For cigarette smoking (Table 6), school grade and rural residence predict acceptance of a younger age, while family socio-economic status and sex do not show significant differences in odds ratios. Low school marks have some association with acceptance of a lower age for cigarette smoking, but the effect is not as strong as for smoking at all. Once the attitude and behaviour items are added, only the odds ration between school grade levels remain significant. The predictive power of the variables for acceptance of a younger age of smoking are roughly the same as those for acceptance of smoking at all.

For beer drinking (Table 7), school grade predicts acceptance of a younger age, as do lower school marks, and, somewhat more weakly, rural residence. Gender and family socio-economic status show little relation to acceptance of a younger age of drinking. The predictive power of the variables for acceptance of a younger age is slightly higher than for acceptance of drinking at all.

For trying marijuana (Table 8), school grade makes a particularly strong prediction of acceptance of a younger age, and having low school marks is also predictive. The relationship with family socio-economic status is curvilinear, with those from average SES families being least accepting of trying marijuana at a younger age. While females were significantly more accepting of trying marijuana at all, it is males who tend to be more accepting of trying it at a younger age. The predictive power for acceptance of trying marijuana at a younger age is less than for acceptance of trying it at all, but higher than the predictive power of the models for cigarette smoking and for drinking beer.

DISCUSSION

As others have found, we found that students in 7th Grade were among the segments of society least accepting of tobacco, alcohol or marijuana use, but that acceptance had increased by 11th Grade, for alcohol to levels equivalent to those among adults. In terms of the normative age at which use was acceptable, we found that teenagers tended to set the age a little lower than adults, and that the age was set lowest (15.8-17.6) by teenagers who were themselves at about those ages.

Teenage users actually initiate use at ages which are considerably lower than the ages they name as normative -- at a mean age of 12 for cigarettes and beer, and 14 for marijuana. In the other direction, the legal age for cigarette smoking in Ontario is 18 and for drinking 19. Teenagers are thus initiating these contested behaviours not only well below the legal age, and below the age at which adults would consider it acceptable, but also at below the age thought acceptable by teenagers themselves. The “social clock” expectations, to a considerable extent shared between teenagers and adults, along with the legal age limits, may influence when and how “precocious” behaviours occur. But the patterns we have described mean that use even of legal psychoactive drugs is initiated outside the bounds of the public norms to which the teenagers themselves subscribe. In terms of the relative timing in the individual life-course, it seems as if new behaviour leads to new norms, rather than vice versa.