Abstract
Alcohol is one of the most common causer of human behavior disorder. Regular use of alcohol leaves serious consequences on physical and mental health states which represent a serious health and social problem of modern society
The aim of this paper is to get a complete picture of the alcohol usage in young people and to perceive the information about the harm and the long-term consequences of alcohol consumption. Hypothesis that was set for the purpose of this research is: The young excessively consume alcohol despite their knowledge of information about its harm.
The research was conducted in 3 high schools in Zagreb ( Vrapče Nurse School, the First Zagreb Economics School and the Fifth Zagreb Gymnasium). Total of 97 students have partcipated in the research which was conducted through an anonymous survey with 15 questions.
Results of the conducted survey show that 96% of students have consumed alcohol, 49% of that students consume alcohol several times a month and 23% of respondents consume it up to severeal times a week, which is a troubling percentage. Large perecentage of all students (90% - 100%) know on which organs is damage visible after long-term alcohol consuption. Slightly less percentage of them (65%-81%) recognize long-term health problems by bio-psycho-social criteria and 54% of respondents recognize the person that is an alcohol addict. It has been noticed that a large percentage of students (66%) don't know what reaction alcohol doesn't cause on organism. Significant statistical difference between the knowledge of students of individual schools has also been noticed.
Trend of alcohol consumption is constanlty increasing among young population and it requiers attention of whole community and investing in creation of prevention programs.