The use of psychoactive substances by Ukrainian youth (based on the materials of the international project «Mental health and risky behaviour of adolescents»)

Abstract

The article focuses on the use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances (PAS) among young people (using the example of ninth-grade students in the cities of Lviv, Drohobych, and the Drohobych Raion). The paper reports on the results of the project “Mental Health and Risky Behaviour of Adolescents”, conducted in 2020 by a joint team of Ukrainian and Polish researchers (from Ivan Franko Drohobych State Pedagogical niversity, Lviv Polytechnic National University, as well as the State Agency for the Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems (PARPA) and the Institute of Neurology and Psychiatry (Warsaw), using the methodology of the Mokotów study. Differences in substance use according to gender and location were identified. The results indicate that the alcohol abuse is more common among young people living in rural areas and small towns. Girls were found to be a higher risk group than boys and need special prevention programmes to avoid risky behavior. It has been demonstrated that the highest risk of psychoactive substance use among Ukrainian adolescents is shaped by their peer environment.