Substance Use among Hungarian Students

Abstract

There is very little empirical data on drug and alcohol use among Hungarian adolescents. The purpose of this pilot project was to develop instrumentation and methods that could be used to assess legal and illegal substance use among Hungarian adolescents. A Hungarian translation of The American Drug and Alcohol Survey was developed and adapted to the unique circumstances of Hungarian patterns of use. This survey was tested with 234 students, 135 females and 99 males, from Grades 8 and 11 enrolled in public schools, in Györ, Hungary during 1991-1992. The students reported little or no substance use other than use of alcohol and tobacco. Older students were more likely than younger students to be involved with alcohol and cigarettes. Females and males were equally likely to try alcohol, but males were more likely to have been drunk than females. Despite the low reported use of substances other than alcohol and tobacco, students demonstrated attitudes toward drug use that may place them "at risk" for future use.

Russian Adolescents in the Era of Emergent Democracy: The Role of Family Environment in Substance Use and Depression

“…It was also inconsistent with U.S. research that a significantly larger percentage of Russian girls would have used alcohol as compared to boys (Barnes, Farrell, & Banerjee, 1994; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1991). However, in a study of Hungarian substance use, more 8th grade girls than boys had tried alcohol (Nemeth, Swaim, Katona, & Oetting, 1994). Additional research is needed to examine these variables in relation to adolescent alcohol use patterns.…”