Impact of parental attitude to adolescents who abuse drugs.

OBJECTIVE Youngsters like to experiment with risky life stiles, without adequate knowledge about long-term health effects. Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently going through transition period and is a postwar society with various risk factors for drug abuse (economic, social and health factors). The main objective of the research was to show parents behavior related to drug abuse of their children, and to describe if there is parental support to such kind of behavior. METHODS This study covers 368 adolescents: 170 males, 198 females, aged 12-17, with equal urban and rural distribution. The research tool used was Q2004 (K.B. Kelly 2000). EPI info was used for statistical analysis. Research is epidemiological and was done in urban and rural areas of Sarajevo Canton. RESULTS Out of total number of individuals involved in the study 25.8% were found to be cigarette smokers, 39.4% consumed alcohol, and 2.2% consumed marijuana. Alcohol abuse is more present in urban rather than in rural types of communities. (56.6%; 43.4%; p = 0.0001). Of all age groups examined, alcohol abuse is most frequent in males (53.1%; 46.9%). and high school age group (69.0%; 31.0%). Passive parental support to alcohol consumers is surprisingly high (> 50%). CONCLUSION It is determined that parents (particularly fathers) use tobacco and alcohol, and passively support similar behavior of their children. More than one quarter of parents (26.2%) are aware that their children drink alcohol. These results could be used to develop an appropriate prevention strategy. It is necessary to be aware of all relevant risk factors.