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Session 2

Explore the risk factors that contribute to substance abuse and the protective factors that help prevent it. Discover the individual and environmental characteristics that encourage or discourage substance abuse. Learn how these factors can be addressed through prevention programs.

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Session 2

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  1. Session 2 Risk & protective factors

  2. What are they? • Risk factors • Characteristics of an individual/community that encourage or are linked to substance abuse • Protective factors • Characteristics of an individual/community that discourage or are not linked to substance abuse

  3. Individual & environmental • Individual • Risk/protective factors that are part of the way a person is • Environmental • Risk/protective factors that are part of the community a person belongs to

  4. Individual risk factors (1) • Being a boy • More boys than girls use substances, especially illicit, but you need to be careful with under-reporting (girls hide use more because it’s less acceptable). • Being young • To define his/her personality, a young person could use substances: • To experiment (What do I like? Where are my limits? Who am I?). • Declare his/her belonging to a group. • Relieve anxiety.

  5. Individual risk factors (2) • Poor personal and social skills • Less able to cope and more likely to use substances to ‘solve’ problems or more likely to follow substance use behaviour of peers. • Mental health problems • Problems that make you less able to cope & attract discrimination.

  6. Individual risk factors (3) • Attitudes favourable to substance abuse. • A change in attitudes is one of the best proxy indicators for a (future) change in behaviour. • Intention to use. • Lack of information and low perception of risk. • Information and awareness are necessary! However, a change in the level of information and awareness are not linked on their own to a change in behaviour.

  7. Environmental risk factors (1) • In the family • Lack of physical or psychological care. • Inconsistent or too strict parenting. • Problems in the family, verbal, physical or sexual abuse. • Substance use by parents and/or older siblings. • In the school • Low attachment to the school • Low attendance and truancy

  8. Environmental risk factors (2) • In the community • Verbal, physical or sexual abuse. • Substance use in the community, especially by close friends and peers. • Culture • The culture young people identify with (the lifestyle of a group, religion, traditions). • The way substance use is portrayed in the media. • Advertising.

  9. Environmental risk factors (3) • Lack of opportunities • To be educated. • To find an adequate & fulfilling job. • To employ free time constructively. • To get help from youth-friendly health & social services if you need it. • Availability of substances • How easy is it for (young) people to get substances and to use them? Also licit substances!

  10. Concluding thoughts (1) • There is not one factor that can explain the substance abuse problem of a target group/ community. • Therefore, a prevention programme needs a range of activities addressing different risk/protective factors. • The substance abuse problem of each target group/community is determined by different risk/protective factors. • Therefore, before you decide what to do, you need to find out what the situation is.

  11. Concluding thoughts (2) • Sometimes programmes are too limited to have an effect in terms of making less people start using substances. • However, sometimes it is easy to show change in terms of a risk factor that has been demonstrated to be linked to substance abuse. • If programmes are clear about the risk factors they want to address, it is easier for them to show that they are effective.

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