Læknablaðið - 15.12.1994, Page 30

540
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1994; 80
Vímuefnanotkun unglinga —
áhættuþættir og áhrif fræðslu
Þórarinn Gíslason1), Aldís Yngvadóttir2*, Bryndís Benediktsdóttir3)
Gíslason 1», Yngvadóttir A, Bcncdiktsdóttir B
Alcohol consumption, smoking and drug abusc
among teenagers — a prospectivc study
Læknablaðið 1994; 80: 540-52
Many of the social and health problems of teenagers
today are related to the use of intoxicating drugs. In
1990 the use of Lions Quest began in primary
schools in Iceland. With Lions Quest the young are
taught life skills in order to be helped to live a
healthy life without tobacco, alcohol or other in-
toxicating drugs. The aim of this study, therefore,
was to try to determine what factors influence teen-
age use of intoxicants and whether the attitudes and
drug consumption of those teenagers who had par-
ticipated in Lions Quest were any different from
those who had not.
The research is a continuation of a comparative
study where students were administered question-
naires to ascertain their attitudes toward Iife and
toward the use of intoxicating substances. In 1989
the survey covered 566 students 12-13 years of age
and three years later in 1992 reached 500 of the
former respondents when they were 15-16 years old.
The schools were chosen such that the study reflect-
ed the attitudes of students both in sparsely and in
densely settled areas.
The study showed that of the 15-16 year olds 18.6%
smoked daily, 44.4% had felt the effects of alcohol
four times or more, and 5% had a history of repeat-
ed drug abuse (cannabis, sniffing solvents, etc.)
The use of various intoxicating substances is strong-
ly correlated, a fact that supports the hypothesis that
attitudes toward life and conditions that lead to the
use of one type of drug also support the use of other
drugs. Those teenagers who used drugs had a great
deal in common as regards attitudes toward life and
Frá 1,geödeild Landspítalans og lungnadeild Vífilsstaðaspít-
ala, 2|Menntamálaráðuneytinu, 3lHeilsugæslunni í Garða-
bæ. Fyrirspurnir, bréfaskipti: Þórarinn Gíslason lungnadeild
Vífilsstaðaspítala, 210 Garðabær.
the pattern of family relations. They were not as
close to their families as were teenagers who did not
use drugs, were seldom home in the evening and had
few interests in conrmon with their parents. The
parents were more often divorced, smoking in the
home was more common and alcohol consumption
had more frequently caused family problems. These
teenagers were more easily influenced, were more
dependent on their friends, had less self-confidence,
and were less apt to participate in sports and scouts.
Their academic presentation was also lower.
There was no significant difference in the level of
drug use of teenagers who had participated in Lions
Quest and those in the control group. Research in
other countries has shown that programs of this kind
have succeeded well in preventing drug abuse. The
reason why the present study did not show the same
result may be because teaching materials of this kind
are so new to the Icelandic school system and also
because the instructional material had not been giv-
en a real place in the legally required curriculum at
the time the survey was carried out.
Ágrip
Mikið af félagslegum og heilsufarslegunt
vandamálum ungmenna í dag má tengja vímu-
efnanotkun þeirra. Margháttuð fræðsla og for-
varnastarf gegn vímuefnaneyslu hefur verið
reynt hér á landi. Árið 1990 var byrjað að nota
námsefnið Að ná tökum á tilverunni, Lion Qu-
est (LQ) í nokkrum grunnskólum. Þar er
kennd lífsleikni og nteð þeim hætti reynt að
hjálpa unglingunum að lifa heilbrigðu lífi án
tóbaks, áfengis og annarra vímugjafa. Tilgang-
ur þessarar rannsóknar er að reyna að meta
hvaða þættir hafa áhrif á vímuefnaneyslu ung-
linga og hvort viðhorf og neysla þeirra ung-
linga sem fengið hafa kennslu í LQ sé öðruvísi
en þeirra sem ekki hafa fengið þetta námsefni.
Rannsóknin er framvirk samanburðarrann-
sókn þar sem spurningalistar voru lagðir fyrir
nemendur til að kanna lífsviðhorf og neyslu á