The prevalence and risk factors of psychoactive drug use in primary school students in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Abstract

Objective: The age of using psychoactive drug has decreased in recent years while it has threatened children. This study considers types of psychoactive drugs used, risk factors and causal attributions among primary school 5th grade students in TRNC. Methods: The study was conducted with 2345 students during May-June 2015 in 75 public primary schools and two private primary schools that are dependent to Ministry of Education and Culture in TRNC. In this study, USA Department of Education “California Healthy Kids Survey” was used by adapting to Turkish. Results: The study found the lifetime prevalence of cigarette use %10.9, alcohol use %23.5 and illicit drug use %1.2. Half of the students (%51.3) reported they have known name of an illicit drug other than cigarette and alcohol. The most known illicit drug is “bonsai” (%5.3) among students. Living in a city, having brother/sister, having separate parents and being exposed to bad behaviour are predictive risk factors for using cigarette and alcohol. On the other hand, being male, being exposed to bad behavior and physical violence are predictive risk factors for using illicit drugs. Conclusions: This study shows that the age of using psychoactive drug has decreased in TRNC and it even exists among primary school students like all over the world. This study proves that prevention studies for psychoactive drug use for children needs to be put into practice as soon as possible.