ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION, SMOKING AND DRUG-ABUSE AMONG ICELANDIC TEENAGERS- A STUDY INTO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SKILLS FOR ADOLESCENCE PROGRAM

Many of the social and health problems of teenagers today are related to the use of intoxicating drugs. In 1990 the use of the Lions-Quest p rogramme, Skills for Adolescence (SFA), began in compulsory schools in Iceland. With SFA the young are taught life skills in order to be hel ped to live a healthy life without tobacco, alcohol or other intoxicat ing drugs. The aim of this study, therefore, was to try to determine w hat factors influence teenage use of intoxicants and whether the attit udes and drug consumption of those teenagers who had participated in t he SFA programme were any different from those who had not. The resear ch is a continuation of a comparative study where students were admini stered questionnaires to ascertain their attitudes toward life and tow ard the use of intoxicating substances. In 1989 the survey covered 566 students 12-13 years of age and 3 years later in 1992 reached 500 of the former respondents when they were 15-16 years old. The schools wer e chosen such that the study reflected 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 alc ohol four times or more, and 5% had a history of repeated drug abuse ( cannabis, sniffing solvents, etc.). The use of various intoxicating su bstances is strongly correlated, a fact that supports the hypothesis t hat attitudes toward life and conditions that lead to the use of one t ype of drug also support the use of other drugs. Those teenagers who u sed drugs had a great deal in common as regards attitudes toward life and the pattern of family relations. They were not as close to their f amilies as were teenagers who did not use drugs, were seldom home in t he evening, and had few interests in common with their parents. The pa rents were move often divorced, smoking in the home was more common, a nd alcohol consumption had more frequently caused family problems. The se teenagers were more easily influenced, were move dependent on their friends, had less self-confidence, and were less apt to participate i n sports and scouting. Their academic record was also lower. There was no significant difference in the level of drug use of teenagers who h ad participated in SFA and those in the control group. Research in oth er countries has shown that programmes of this kind have succeeded wel l in preventing drug abuse. The reasons why the present study did not show the same result may be because teaching materials of this kind av e new to the Icelandic school system and also because the instructiona l material had not been given a real place in the legally required cur riculum at the time the survey was carried out.