Better Internet for Kids

The report presents the key results of the 2019 ESPAD survey conducted in 35 countries and presents selected indicators for substance use and other risk behaviours in the participating countries. The survey contains specific questions regarding social media and gaming. In 2019, within the last 7 days, students had used social media for 2-3 hours on a typical school day and for 6 or more hours on a typical non-school day. On average, 46 % of students scored 2-3 points on the index for self-perceived problems with social media use, suggesting a high risk of problems related to social media use. Noticeable gender differences were found for both self-perceived problems with social media use and self-perceived problems with gaming. Finally, the report monitors trends and evolution of risk behaviour indicators from the first questionnaire (1995) to the current one (2019), covering seven separate surveys.
(Source: Report).

ESPAD is an international survey of 99,647 students from 35 European countries aged 16 in the calendar year of the survey (2019). The study was carried out on a representative sample of the target population in all but five participating countries.  Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires in an educational setting using with a pencil and paper or web-based method. The students answered the questionnaires anonymously in the classroom, with teachers or research assistants functioning as survey leaders. The questionnaire covers young people’s awareness of and experience with different licit and illicit substances, gambling for money, and social media and gaming.

ESPAD Group. (2020). ESPAD Report 2019: Results from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. EMCDDA Joint Publications. http://www.espad.org/sites/espad.org/files/2020.3878_EN_04.pdf