Objective: School environment is one of the important factors affecting behavior and use of addictive substances in youth. School related studies on youth behavior are categorized mainly in three areas: School structures, socio-cultural... more
Objective:
School environment is one of the important factors affecting behavior and use of addictive substances in youth. School related studies on youth behavior are categorized mainly in three areas: School structures, socio-cultural conditions at schools, and social networks at schools. In this study, the prevalence of youth substance use (cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis) was compared across different types of public high schools (HS) in Istanbul.
Methods: The survey research of 31,272 students was conducted in 154 high schools in 28 districts of Istanbul, Turkey in 2010. The school types consisted of regular, occupational, and Anatolian high schools, which differ on curriculum, resources, and admission requirements. The participating schools were selected randomly through a stratification method.
Results: Comparison of school types across lifetime use of cigarette, alcohol, or marijuana showed that vocational HS students had significantly higher rates of cigarette [49.8%] and marijuana [4.1%], while Anatolian HS students had higher rates of alcohol [39.7%] use. Cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana were used lifetime 45.5%, 32.5%, and 3.3%, respectively by all HS students in Istanbul. Vocational HS had greater than average rates of cigarette and marijuana use and Anatolian HS had greater than average rates for alcohol use.
Conclusions: Substance use prevalence varied across high school types, but this variance was different according to types of substances. While planning substance use prevention interventions, policy makers should focus on improving facilities and resources in regular and vocational HS to decrease cigarette and marijuana use, while focusing on cultural aspects of alcohol use in Anatolian HS.
School environment is one of the important factors affecting behavior and use of addictive substances in youth. School related studies on youth behavior are categorized mainly in three areas: School structures, socio-cultural conditions at schools, and social networks at schools. In this study, the prevalence of youth substance use (cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis) was compared across different types of public high schools (HS) in Istanbul.
Methods: The survey research of 31,272 students was conducted in 154 high schools in 28 districts of Istanbul, Turkey in 2010. The school types consisted of regular, occupational, and Anatolian high schools, which differ on curriculum, resources, and admission requirements. The participating schools were selected randomly through a stratification method.
Results: Comparison of school types across lifetime use of cigarette, alcohol, or marijuana showed that vocational HS students had significantly higher rates of cigarette [49.8%] and marijuana [4.1%], while Anatolian HS students had higher rates of alcohol [39.7%] use. Cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana were used lifetime 45.5%, 32.5%, and 3.3%, respectively by all HS students in Istanbul. Vocational HS had greater than average rates of cigarette and marijuana use and Anatolian HS had greater than average rates for alcohol use.
Conclusions: Substance use prevalence varied across high school types, but this variance was different according to types of substances. While planning substance use prevention interventions, policy makers should focus on improving facilities and resources in regular and vocational HS to decrease cigarette and marijuana use, while focusing on cultural aspects of alcohol use in Anatolian HS.
Research Interests:
Objective: The literature suggests school structures and sociocultural environment and the networks within schools play important role in crime and violence among youth. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and variation of crime... more
Objective: The literature suggests school structures and sociocultural environment and the networks within schools play important role in crime and violence among youth. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and variation of crime and violence across public high school (HS) types in Istanbul. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in May-June, 2010 in Istanbul public HS. The schools and classrooms within schools were selected by stratified random sampling, which recruited approximately 20% of HS population. The survey instru-ment included questions from European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs and Youth in Europe Survey. Turkish translations of both were previously used in research. Trained counselors conducted the surveys and confidentiality was assured by anonymous optic forms. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16. Results: Crime and violence rates were higher in occupational HS, followed by regular and Anatolian HS. However Anatolian HS students reported that more of their friends were involved in crime and violence than that of regular and occu-pational HS. Regardless of school type violence was more prevalent than crime and students reported use of vio-lence on others more frequently than being a victim of violence. Conclusions: Based on our results crime and violence rates were higher among occupational HS students than regular and Anatolian HS students. This might be related to school structure and resources and socioeconomic status of students. Possibility of attributing differ-ent values to crime and violence might explain higher violence rates than crime rates. Considering the findings of this study while developing school policies might be beneficial.