FAMILY RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS AMONG YOUNG SUBSTANCE NON-CONSUMERS AND CONSUMERS

The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the influence of a family environment on the consumption of addictive substances and promote the importance of including the family environment in addiction prevention strategies. The study, whose results are presented in this paper, was carried out within the project "Development of the system of crime prevention and a support for the establishment of a coordination unit for the prevention of crime". The project was designed in collaboration with the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, Office of the United Nations Development Program in Croatia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republic of Croatia. In this study, CTC Survey for children and youth (Mihic, Novak and Basic, 2010) was conducted in a period from September to October 2010 in three primary and secondary schools in Split. Results presented in this paper are obtained on a sample of children from second and fourth grades of secondary school (N = 623). Findings showed that frequent substance consumers on a significantly larger scale perceive presence of risk factors in their families (in adequate family rules, family conflicts, parents who support the anti-social behavior and consumption of addictive substances) in comparison to non-consumers. Equally, some substance non-consumers unlike frequent consumers more frequently perceive the presence of protective factors in their families (family attachment, family opportunities for prosocial engagement and family rewards for prosocial engagement). Based on the results of this study, directions for planning the substance abuse prevention within the family context were given. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]