Examination of the community-specific prevalence of and factors associated with substance use and misuse among Rural and Urban adolescents: a cross-sectional analysis in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

ObjectiveThe community of residence (ie, urban vs rural) is one of the known factors of influence on substance use and misuse (SUM). The aim of this study was to explore the community-specific prevalence of SUM and the associations that exist between scholastic, familial, sports and sociodemographic factors with SUM in adolescents from Bosnia and Herzegovina.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, which was completed between November and December 2014, the participants were 957 adolescents (aged 17 to 18 years) from Bosnia and Herzegovina (485; 50.6% females). The independent variables were sociodemographic, academic, sport and familial factors. The dependent variables consisted of questions on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. We have calculated differences between groups of participants (gender, community), while the logistic regressions were applied to define associations between the independent and dependent variables.ResultsIn the urban community, cigarette smoking is more prevalent in girls (OR=2.05; 95% CI 1.27 to 3.35), while harmful drinking is more prevalent in boys (OR=2.07; 95% CI 1.59 to 2.73). When data are weighted by gender and community, harmful drinking is more prevalent in urban boys (OR=1.97; 95% CI 1.31 to 2.95), cigarette smoking is more frequent in rural boys (OR=1.61; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.39), and urban girls misuse substances to a greater extent than rural girls (OR=1.70; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.51,OR=2.85; 95% CI 1.88 to 4.31,OR=2.78; 95% CI 1.67 to 4.61 for cigarette smoking, harmful drinking and simultaneous smoking-drinking, respectively). Academic failure is strongly associated with a higher likelihood of SUM. The associations between parental factors and SUM are more evident in urban youth. Sports factors are specifically correlated with SUM for urban girls.ConclusionsLiving in an urban environment should be considered as a higher risk factor for SUM in girls. Parental variables are more strongly associated with SUM among urban youth, most probably because of the higher parental involvement in children’ personal lives in urban communities (ie, college plans, for example). Specific indicators should be monitored in the prevention of SUM.

Sport and scholastic factors in relation to smoking and smoking initiation in older adolescents: a prospective cohort study in Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Our findings are therefore in accordance with the results of previous cross-sectional studies performed with adolescents of a similar age, which repeatedly reported lower educational achievement among children who smoke. 7 18 27 Although there is a general consensus on the negative associations between smoking and performance in school, the mechanisms that lead to these associations are still controversial. Some authors highlight the negative effects of smoking on cognitive capacities, and consequently poorer learning capabilities, as a result of cigarette smoking.…”

An Examination of the Ethnicity-Specific Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Substance Use and Misuse: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Croatian and Bosniak Adolescents in Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Knowing the certain religiously-inherited boundaries toward certain substances (e.g., alcohol with regard to Islam), and/or traditional perception of some SUM behaviors (i.e., tobacco smoking as a part of “eastern” and Arab culture), differences in SUM behaviors and factors associated to SUM among adolescents can be expected. Indeed, when observing the previous studies that investigated exclusively one ethnicity done on Croatian [1] and Bosniak adolescents [2,5] from Bosnia and Herzegovina, several conclusions can be made. First, Croatian boys consume alcohol to greater extent than Bosniaks (47% and 40%, respectively).…”

“…In brief, daily smoking in Europe ranges mostly between 10%–20%, while 20% of adolescents in Bosnia and Herzegovina smoke on a daily basis [3,4]. Thus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with Hungary (18% daily smokers), Belgium (18%), and Austria (20%), is among the European countries with the highest prevalence of adolescent smoking [5,6]. Not surprisingly, high prevalence of smoking is recognized as one of the most important risk factors for high risk of morbidity and mortality related to cardiovascular diseases in the country [7,8].…”

“…Surprisingly, the alcohol drinking is higher in Bosniak (27%) than in Croatian girls (18%) of the same age. Next, there was substantial gender-difference in smoking (35% and 16% for Croatian boys and girls, respectively), while a very recent study which examined exclusively Bosniaks reported no significant difference between boys and girls in occurrence of daily smoking (30% and 32% for boys and girls, respectively) [5]. …”

Chromosome aberrations frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes in young tobacco smoking and non-smoking people

“…Although a significant decrease in tobacco consumption has been observed globally from 2002 to 2010, this trend is still lagging behind in Eastern Europe (42). At the same time, living in the urban environment should be considered as a higher risk factor for substances use, especially in females (43).…”