Drug-use patterns and risk factors among young offenders in Hungary: an epidemiological study

Abstract

This article explores the extent of drug use by young offenders in Hungary, and identifies possible risk factors associated with drug use, including home/family and wider social influences. It draws on a survey of all male young offenders aged 14–18, held in prison in Hungary, whether sentenced or awaiting trial. Key questions on drug use matched those of the European School Project on Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD) survey, enabling comparisons to be made with young Hungarians in general. Levels of drug use were substantially higher for the young offenders than for young Hungarians attending school. In analysing the young offenders’ drug use, three groups are distinguished: regular drug users, occasional drug users (together comprising the ‘cases’) and non-users (‘controls’). The most consistent finding from multivariate analysis, based on comparison of drug users and non-users, is that having a drug user in the family is a highly significant predictor of drug use both for regular users and occasional users. None of the other family/home context factors that were investigated could be claimed as independent risk factors. Nevertheless, factors potentially reflecting poor family cohesion, and indirect signs of the failure of parental supervision, as manifested by peer influence, such as frequent going out, drinking and smoking, proved to be independently associated with becoming a user. These findings suggest that, in Hungary, there is a need to develop secondary and tertiary prevention mechanisms for young offenders held in prison, to meet the respective needs of both occasional and regular users.