Indicator of drug, alcohol and tobacco use among students of higher education institutions

Abstract

Students' attitudes towards drugs are one of the urgent problems in the world and in Ukraine. According to the WHO, UNICEF, EMCDDA in recent years there has been a downward trend in smoking among young people. Instead, the number of drug addicts is increasing. We present the results of a survey of 230 students from 17 to 24 years of different courses of higher education institutions in the city of Zhytomyr. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2020. For the study, students were grouped by the specialties in which they studied. The first group consisted of 50 students majoring in "Nursing" (12 hours and 38 women) Zhytomyr Medical Institute. The second group - 80 students majoring in "Pedagogy" (20 hours and 60 hours) Zhytomyr State University named after Ivan Franko. The third group - 100 students of future agricultural specialists (49 hours and 51 women) Zhytomyr National Agroecological University. We investigated at what age students begin to use harmful substances, what types of drugs are popular, what provokes a teenager to use drugs, and what drugs for the treatment of drug addiction students know. According to research, the onset of alcohol, drugs and tobacco use occurs in early adolescence, accompanied by family problems and self-sacrifice among adolescents. We believe that the policy of preventing and counteracting the use of these drugs is not effective enough. A systematic series of measures should be developed in educational institutions themselves, firstly, to form healthy habits, secondly, to inform about the negative consequences of alcohol, tobacco and drug addiction, and, thirdly, to create help points in free educational institutions.