Psychoactive substance use among Arab adolescent school dropouts in Israel: a phenomenon and its implications

Abstract

This comprehensive study is the first to examine rates of legal and illegal psychoactive substance use and their predictors specifically among Arab adolescent school dropouts. It investigates the links between sociodemographic, interpersonal, cognitive and personality characteristics and use rates. Four hundred and seventy-six Arab adolescents aged 12-18 from throughout Israel, who had dropped out of school, participated in the study in late 2004. Sampling was done using a cluster method in order to choose specific localities. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing substance use and other variables. Legal substances--alcohol and tobacco--were used by 36% and 30% of the respondents, respectively, in the previous year. Being male, non-religious and having higher behavioural intentions and positive attitudes regarding use increased the odds of substance use. The best predictors of alcohol use were gender and religiosity, each raising the odds of use by 3.5. The best predictor of tobacco use was gender, raising the odds by 12.7. The best predictors of illegal use, behavioural intentions and risk perception, each doubled the odds of use. These and other results facilitate a better understanding of substance use among Arab adolescent dropouts and can foster the development of appropriate prevention and intervention programmes for this underserved population.

Druze Adolescent Dropouts in Israel and Their Use of Psychoactive Substances

“…When comparing the findings of the current study to those of a national survey of adolescent dropouts (Ezrahi et al, 2006) and to those of a study of (Azaiza et al, 2009), some difference and similarities are apparent. In terms of tobacco and alcohol use, Druze and Arab dropouts have similar use rates (slightly higher among the latter), which are considerably lower than among all Israeli adolescent dropouts.…”

“…Both of these characteristics have been examined in previous studies in Israel, both among the general population and among Arab and Druze adolescents (Azaiza, Shoham, et al, 2008a, 2009Rahav et al, 1998Rahav et al, , 2001. The sense of coherence describes the extent to which the subject feels a sense of confidence that the internal and external environments can be 4 F. Azaiza et al predicted and that there is a high probability of things being settled in the best way.…”

Alcohol consumption among adolescents in Kraljevo, Serbia

“…A family history of alcohol use, as well as poor relations with parents, seems to significantly increase the likelihood of teenagers' early drinking initiation [2,7,9,14,15,17,22,23,35,46,[51][52][53][54][55][56], although the findings have not always been consistent [11,38]. In the present study, excessive alcohol consumption by a family member, parental disapproval, and lack of esteem negatively influenced adolescent drinking behavior.…”

“…Although numerous investigations have been conducted worldwide to describe alcohol abuse by youth [1][2][3][10][11][12][13][14][15], the data from our country are still insufficient. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of alcohol consumption among adolescents in one town in Central Serbia.…”

Prevalence of illicit substance use among Arab adults in Israel: Findings from a national survey

“…Few studies have examined illicit substance use among the adult Arab population in Israel, although several have examined Arab adolescents [9–12] and others the entire Israeli population [13]. The aim of this report is to summarise illicit substance use rates among Arab adults in Israel and examine some broad demographic comparisons.…”