engleski

Alcohol use in youth – differences in attitudes and perception of availability between youth and their parents

The research project Prevention of behavior disorders in the local community (Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, and County of Istria, Administrative Department for Health and Social Welfare) is the background of this poster presentation. Within the project a comprehensive resource/need assessment was conducted, and as a result of it several priorities were identified. One of them was alcohol use in youth and community norms toward alcohol use. The sample consisted of 489 youths and 407 of their parents (N=896). The “ Adolescent survey” and “ Parents survey” ” were used in the research. For exploring the differences between youth and their parents discriminative analysis were used. The results of the analysis showed: (1) youth perceive more availability of alcohol and drugs (marijuana) in community, (2) youth perceive more tolerance in community toward alcohol use in youth than their parents, (3) youth think that there is less chance to be disciplined in case of alcohol use that parents think, and (4) youth perceive that their parents are more tolerant to alcohol use in youth than parents would say so. Those results could lead to conclusion that youth and their parents have different point of view regarding availability of alcohol in community as well as the level of tolerance toward alcohol use in youth by community members or parents. We can argue who’ s perception is more relevant, but both perceptions are important in community-based prevention planning – youth because they are target group for prevention effort, and parents because they are adults who create or could initiate changes in social policies, availability of programs, and community laws.

alcohol use in youth; parents; prevention of behavior disorders; community

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