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Aims: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of the largest public health challenges of our time and requires a multisectoral public-health response. PA recommendations state that all children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) daily and carry out vigorous PA (VPA) three times weekly. While participation in sports club activities is known to enhance the probability of reaching the recommended overall PA level, less is known about the contribution of sports club participation to VPA, and few cross-national comparisons have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to study whether participation in sports club activities is associated with meeting the overall PA and VPA recommendations among children and adolescents across six European countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland and Sweden. Methods: Analyses were carried out on existing self-reported national data sets using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Results indicate that approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents take part in sports club activities in the given countries. Sports club participants were more likely to meet the overall PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4) and VPA recommendation (OR 2.8–5.0) than non-participants. Conclusions: The extent to which overall PA and/or VPA is gained through sports club participation versus other settings needs to be further studied. Nonetheless, it can be argued that sports clubs have an important position in PA promotion for younger populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid dissemination of drug use among adolescents in the Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries during the 1990s had a significant impact on health care and social services for this population group. This paper describes the current situation related to drug use among adolescents in the Czech Republic and in other European countries and discusses several attitudinal and behavioral correlates of drug use among young people. The results presented here have been extracted from a database of the European School Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) from 1995, 1999, and 2003. At the time of data collection, the average age of respondents in the sample was 15.4 years. Marijuana was the most common illicit substance used by European adolescents. The results also showed a marked increase in the number of adolescents who use substances repeatedly between 1995 and 2003. A marked increase in the popularity of ecstasy occurred in the same period. Between 1999 and 2003, the use of opiates and amphetamines in the Czech Republic decreased slightly. Attitudinal variables indicate that Czech adolescents tend to be more tolerant towards selected forms of drug using behavior than are their peers in Europe. The policy by which society tries to confront drug related health and social issues includes an expansion of the network of specialized facilities for treatment and resocialization and long-term programs in the field of prevention. In the future, the significance of programs that focus on early detection and intervention will increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There is evidence that young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are unemployed or working in precarious conditions. This study aims to shed light on how the life satisfaction of unemployed and precariously employed young people varies across welfare states with different labour market policies and levels of social protection. Methods: The analyses are based on representative cross-sectional survey data from five European countries (Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic), corresponding to five different welfare state regimes. For economically active young adults (N =6681), the prevalence ratios of low life satisfaction were estimated through multivariate logistic regressions. Results: In all five countries, unemployed young adults presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. When we compared employees with people with permanent and temporary contracts, the former were more satisfied with their lives only in Germany and the UK, examples of conservative and liberal welfare regimes, respectively. Experience of unemployment decreased young adults' life satisfaction only in Germany and the Czech Republic, examples of a conservative and an eastern European welfare regime, respectively. In almost all countries, young adults with low economic self-sufficiency presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. Conclusions: There are nuanced patterns of employment type and life satisfaction across European states that hint at welfare state regimes as possible moderators in this relationship. The results suggest that the psychological burdens of unemployment or work uncertainty cannot be overlooked and should be addressed according to different types of social provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the study is threefold: first, to examine the role of attractiveness in the Czech labour market; second, to assess gender differences in returns of attractiveness; and third, to show that the positive association between attractiveness and earnings does not disappear even when cognitive skills, social background, occupational status and individual characteristics are controlled for. The study uses data from the first large-scale sociological survey focusing on attractiveness carried out in the Czech Republic. The results provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that, in general, more attractive people have a better chance of higher socioeconomic occupational status as well as higher incomes than less attractive individuals even when controlling for cognitive skills, social background, occupational status and personality. However, the analysis also shows that the relationships are different for men and women. The study finds that the income premium for attractiveness is markedly higher among prime-aged women than men. The authors conclude that there have been profound changes in the last 30–40 years in the Western world and that the importance of physical attractiveness and erotic capital has been increasing, especially for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The euroscepticism of the Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) is well known but has been rarely examined in detail. This is surprising, given how poorly ODS fits the profile of eurosceptic parties. These are usually marginal radical groupings. This article maps the developing euroscepticism of the Czech centre-right between 1991 and 2002. It notes a shift from a euroscepticism stressing neo-liberalism and Czech and Central European distinctness to one stressing the defence of "national interests" against German-inspired eurofederalism. Existing explanations of ODS euroscepticism present it as simultaneously ideologically dogmatic and opportunistic. A similar ideology-versus-strategy dichotomy informs much emerging euroscepticism literature. Such new centre-right parties in post-communist Europe, which originated as vehicles for post-communist transformation, challenge this view. As they become strategically and ideologically exhausted in an era of increasingly "normal" party competition, euroscepticism may enable them to combine ideological renewal and the development of new catchall appeals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to make a three-fold contribution to the study of Euroscepticism in the wider Europe. First, it presents a two-dimensional conceptualization of party positions on European integration in general, and of Euroscepticism in particular, distinguishing between diffuse and specific support for European integration (i.e. 'support for the ideas of European integration' and 'support for the EU'). Second, it analyses the location, type, and electoral strength of party-based Euroscepticism in the four candidate countries of East Central Europe - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Third, it contributes to the ideology vs. strategy debate, showing that ideology is the dominant explanation for both types of support, although strategy at times plays a role in explaining specific support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]