RISK FACTORS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ALCOHOL-DRINKING HABITS AMONG HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS Cover Image

ČIMBENICI RIZIKA I OBILJEŽJA NAVIKA PIJENJA ALKOHOLA MEĐU SREDNJOŠKOLCIMA
RISK FACTORS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ALCOHOL-DRINKING HABITS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Author(s): Slavko Sakoman, Mariana Kuzmanova, Zora Raboteg-Šarić
Subject(s): Behaviorism, Evaluation research, Substance abuse and addiction, Sociology of Education
Published by: Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar
Keywords: Alcohol-Drinking Habits; High school students;

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this research was to examine the occurrence and characteristics of alcohol abuse among adolescents and to determine which factors could best explain students’ drinking habits and the maladjusted behaviour due to alcohol abuse. The research was conducted on a representative sample (N=4841) of first-grade high-school students in Croatia. An extensive questionnaire was used examining the frequency and modes of alcohol abuse as well as the examinees’ characteristics of behaviour and experience. The results demonstrate that alcohol abuse among high-school students is a frequent practice. Almost 80% of the examined students have drunk at least once in their lives, and almost half of them state they have had alcoholic drinks in the last 30 days. Furthermore, there is a considerable number of those who have in the intervals mentioned been under a strong influence of alcohol. The data generally indicate that students start drinking alcoholic beverages already in elementary school and that by the beginning of high school their drinking habits become very pronounced indeed. In order to clarify students’ drinking habits, the correlations of alcohol-drinking frequency variables have been calculated, intoxication in life and problems of behaviour due to alcohol abuse (criterion variables) with sociodemographic variables (gender, school-type, socio-educational status of parents), students’ school success, absence from classes and estimates of the occurrence of alcohol abuse and intoxication among the students’ friends.

  • Issue Year: 8/1999
  • Issue No: 40+41
  • Page Range: 373-396
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Croatian