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Adolescents use of tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol did not change with stay-at-home orders in northern rural California, but their physical activity dropped, according to a study today in
JAMA Pediatrics.
The researchers included two cohorts of 9th and 10th graders in their 1,006-person study: 521 who were enrolled in spring 2019 and 485 who were enrolled in fall 2019. Originally, the survey was designed to assess just physical activity and substance abuse in general, with an initial survey and a 6-month follow-up. The researchers had chosen this region because youth tobacco use is historically higher in small communities.
Because of the time between the two cohorts, those in the fall 2019 group had their 6-month follow-up survey well after the state s stay-at-home began on Mar 18, 2020 (they continued through September 2020). While the study wasn t able to capture local adherence to COVID mitigations, the researchers did note that 36% of people who lived in t