Icelandic Kids: Smoking Less, Hanging Out With Their Parents More

Icelandic kids are spending less time getting high and more time with their parents than they were just a few years ago, according to the results of the Social Index poll of the Ministry of Welfare.

The poll reached out to kids 14 and 15 years of age, Vísir reports, asking them numerous questions about how they spend their free time. The results show that these children are living considerably more wholesome lives than they were just 10 years ago.

The results, derived from data collected in 2014, showed that 63% of Icelandic kids spend nearly all or entirely all of their weekends with their parents, compared to just 37% in 2006. The results were similar for free time during the school week, with about 50% saying they spend this free time with their parents, compared to 33% ten years ago.

Icelandic kids are also playing more sports, with 39% saying they were involved in some kind of sport in 2014, up from 31.8% in 2006.

There is also considerably less substance use amongst Icelandic teenagers. Only 2.5% of 15-year-olds in 2015 said they smoked one cigarette or more each day, down from 12% in 2006. The use of hashish also reduced significantly amongst Icelandic kids during this time, going from 9% in 2006 to 3.3% today.

The most significant shift though was in the area of drinking. In 2006, 26% of 15-year-olds said they had gotten drunk at least once in the past 30 days. In 2015, that figured dropped to just 4.6%.