ATTITUDES OF YOUNG PEOPLE TOWARD ADDICTION

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this work is to assess young people's attitudes towards addiction.

Methods: 502 respondents participated in the research, of which 246 (49%) were men and 256 (51%) were women aged 15 to 18. The respondents were students of the first (N=261) and fourth (N=241) grades of secondary schools in Split. The research used questionnaires to collect the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and a questionnaire the attitudes of the respondents towards addiction.

Results: Men took significantly more favorable attitudes to the statements "Cannabis use should not be legal" and "It is not normal for young people to try drugs at least once." First and fourth grade students answered statistically significantly differently to the statement "Occasional use of cannabis/marijuana is dangerous," while the answers of first and fourth grade students were statistically significantly different for the statement "Most young people try ecstasy today." The students of I and II high school and students of the health school answered the statement "All drugs are not equally harmful to your health" and "Occasional use of cannabis/marijuana is dangerous" statistically significantly differently, and to the statement "The use of cannabis/marijuana should not to be legal.", "Occasional use of cannabis/marijuana is dangerous." and "Education about drugs should not start in elementary school." the answers of students of the maritime and health schools are statistically significantly different.

Conclusion: Although the majority of respondents have positive attitudes about addictions and believe that education about addictions is necessary already at an early stage of education, the results showed that every fifth respondent in the first grade of high school and every third respondent in the fourth grade of high school consume cannabis. These results support the need for a systematic approach by the wider community in solving this problem.