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Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the association between adolescent drunkenness and participation in risky leisure time activities and parental monitoring. Methods: A sample of 3,694 Slovak elementary school students (mean age 14.5 years; 49.0% males) was assessed for drunkenness in the previous month, participation in risky leisure activities and parental monitoring. Results: Participation in risky leisure time activities increased the probability of drunkenness among adolescents, while parental monitoring decreased it. The effect did not change after adding the mother’s and father’s monitoring into the models. Conclusion: Our results imply that adolescents involved in going out with friends, having parties with friends and/or visiting sporting events every day or several times a week are at a higher risk of drunkenness, as are those less monitored by their parents. These less monitored adolescents and their parents should become a target group in prevention.

Youth subcultures (hip-hop, punk, skinhead, techno scene, metal) are known for specific lifestyles, music preferences, shared values and behaviours of their members. The aim of this study was to assess the association between subculture affiliation and substance use (tobacco, alcohol and cannabis), and whether gender, family affluence and substance use by peers explain this association. Subculture affiliation was significantly associated with substance use (OR/95% CI: smoking 3.13/2.30-4.24; drinking 2.58/1.95-3.41; drunkenness 2.02/1.54-2.66; cannabis use 2.42/1.46-4.00). Only a part of this risk runs via gender, family affluence and peer substance use. Health promotion should be targeted in particular at adolescents with a subculture affiliation as they are at higher risk of substance use. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel

Background: Research on health-related behaviors confirms the contribution of self-efficacy and affective factors to the initiation and continuation of smoking behavior. The aim was to assess the degree to which affectivity contributes to the association between self-efficacy and smoking behavior in adolescence. Methods: A sample of 501 elementary school students (mean age 14.7 ± 0.9 years, 48.5% males) from the Slovak and Czech Republics filled out the Self-Efficacy Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and answered questions about smoking behavior. Results: Logistic regression showed that social self-efficacy increased the likelihood of smoking behavior but only after adding positive and negative affectivity to the model. Adjustment for age and gender as covariates did not change these findings. Conclusion: Results show the need to prepare programs aimed at enhancing appropriate social self-efficacy and especially improving skills to resist the pressures emerging from peers. Adolescents should also learn to handle their negative emotions differently, instead of through smoking behavior.

With the aim of analysing the importance of psycho-social factors in predicting adolescents' smoking behaviour, a model of the interrelations between socio-economic status, parents', peers' and adolescents' own smoking behaviours was tested. The sample consisted of 2,616 adolescents. LISREL analyses were used to support the model; males and females were evaluated separately. Peers' smoking is the strongest predictor of adolescent smoking. Parents' smoking behaviour influences adolescents' smoking directly, but also indirectly through the parents' influence on peers' smoking behaviour. Socio-economic status influences adolescent smoking indirectly through its influence on parents' and peers' smoking behaviour. Our model is significant in both males and females and explains 42 - 51% of the variance in adolescent smoking behaviour. Accentuation of peers' influence on adolescents' smoking behaviour without considering the interrelations between the influence of socio-economic status, parents and peers may lead us to incorrect conclusions in research as well as in prevention. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The aim of this study was to explore the association between parental divorce and adolescent drunkenness and the contribution of adolescents' feelings toward their parents to this association. Cross-sectional data on 3,694 elementary school students from several cities in Slovakia (mean age 14.3, 49.0% males; response rate 93%) were obtained. Respondents completed questionnaires on how often they had been drunk in the previous 4 weeks, whether their parents were divorced and a measure of their feelings toward their parents. Parental divorce was found to have an effect on adolescent drunkenness in the previous month, as were the high rates of negative and low rates of positive feelings toward both parents. The effect of divorce on drunkenness strongly decreased if adjusted for the affect of the adolescent toward the father, but not the mother. Our findings indicate that to keep the father positively involved after divorce might be a protective factor with regard to a higher probability of adolescent drunkenness in divorced families. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel