1. Session 4 Risk & protective factors
Preventing Amphetamine-Type-Stimulant (ATS) Use Among Young People
A UNODC Training Workshop

2. Preventing ATS use among youth
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
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

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
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

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.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

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.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

6. 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.
In the community:
Substance use in the community, especially by peers.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

7. Environmental risk factors (2)
Culture:
The culture young people identify with (the lifestyle of a group, religion, traditions).
The way substance use is portrayed in the media.
Advertising.
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.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

8. Environmental risk factors (3)
Availability of substances
How easy is it for (young) people to get substances and to use them? Also licit substances!
Lak of information.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

9. Preventing ATS use among youth
Protective factors
The opposite of most risk factors are thought to discourage or to be linked to less substance use, i.e. they are protective.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop

10. Preventing ATS use among youth
Concluding thoughts
There is not one factor that can explain the substance abuse problem of a community.
Therefore, a prevention programme needs a range of activities addressing different risk/protective factors.
The substance abuse problem of each community is determined by different risk/protective factors.
Therefore, before you decide what to do, you need to find out what the situation is.
Preventing ATS use among youth
A UNODC Training Workshop