Drug Prevention among Roma Youth

This thesis deals with the drug prevention among Roma youth. It is based on the research among the clients of Children and Youth Centre Teen Challenge Int. I have been working there as a part time worker the last three years. Using the method of in-depth half- structured interviews, I interviewed twelve clients, ages in the range of ten to sixteen years. All of them were members of the Roma minority, which is a group significantly affected by social exclusion and wide range of socially pathological phenomena, including the use of addictive substances. Given this situation, Roma youth appears to be a group highly at-risk of drug addiction. This means that special attention should be paid to this group in selective prevention efforts. Beside this, non-specific prevention is also extremely important. In this paper I tried to show that, as many risk-factors are closely related to the very ethnic specificity of this minority. Its unique cultural features must be taken into account. Non-specific prevention should focus not only on the meaningful use of free time, but it should also seek to strengthen self-confidence, positive features of ethnic identity, ability of planning and postponing satisfaction. Some other important parts of non-specific prevention could consist of efforts to teach how to accept..