Characterization of family risk factors in connection with drug consumption in high school students

Abstract

The world drug problem is one of the social epidemics which grew the fastest and the most in the last century and will probably spread even more and become more serious. This phenomenon represents a threat to human beings’ health and wellbeing since it diminishes the socio-economic, cultural and political foundations of a society (32). In this study we characterize high school students using the National Survey 2005 carried out by SEDRONAR in order to observe risk factors and their connection with drugsconsumption. Four thousand five hundred ninety three surveys corresponding to the province of Cordoba were analyzed. From all the surveyed people, 12.1% recognized having tried drugs sometime in their lives. When analyzing if drug consumption is related to school shift, the results showed that in both cases, people who have consumed drugs sometime in their lives as well as those who consumed the previous month, afternoon and evening shifts involve significant higher risk. As regard the age when more drugs where consumed, once in life or in the previous month, results were more significant for 15 and older and less for 14 and younger. Regarding the analysis of drug consumption in relation to both parents living together, it is observed that a nuclear family is highly significant and there is a relation with the protection factors mentioned before, significance being higher for those who tried drugs once in their lives. According to our analysis, we can state that family risk factors are the most significant. It was determined that family risk factors are strong components at the moment of trying drugs.