engleski

Students' Attitudes Regarding Substance Abuse and Preventive Actions of the Police

The aim of this paper was to examine the attitudes of the first year high school students in Zagreb regarding substance abuse and preventive actions of the police. The research was conducted by a questionnaire on the cohort sample of 15 schools in Zagreb with a total of 1220 children. In the monitored sample, 61.1% of the subjects said they noticed their companions wanted to try drugs out of pure curiosity. These data suggest that young people are still not informed well enough on the harmfulness of taking drugs. However, regardless of the natural curiosity of these children who very often want to experience everything around them on their own skin, these data would be certainly different if they were better informed. 23.1% of the children questioned said they noticed their friends had taken drugs because of family problems. There are 458 (37.5%) children who would call the police if they got into trouble with drugs. As far as those children who would not call the police if they got into trouble with drugs, their number is significantly bigger. 712 (58.4%) children would not call the police. Sixty subjects would not call the police because they think the police cannot help them, 131 children said they do not trust the police, 233 are afraid of punishments or they are ashamed, 56 would first call their parents, 14 would contact an expert. With this paper we would like to stress the contribution of the prevention programmes carried out by the police in high schools to the development of positive attitudes of students towards the police and their role in the society. The prevention programmes offered by the police represent proof of their effort to understand the young and their problems.

drugs ; the youth ; adolescence ; education ; the police

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