Zachowania ryzykowne młodzieży gimnazjalnej

In the face of different civilization changes threatening human health and life, risky behaviours of youth have become one of the essential research areas of present-day psychology. The conclusions of this research can be used to design programmes and preventive measures in this area. The purpose of this research was to determine the structure of risky behaviours of youth at secondary-school age. It was assumed that within a group of youth from the second class of the secondary school, most of the risky behaviours associated with the use of alcohol, nicotine and drugs occurred at least once during the 12 months preceding the research. It was also assumed that sex differentiates risky behaviours in terms of their frequency and structure. The research was conducted on a group of youth of the second class of secondary school. This group consisted of 158 people. To determine the risky behaviours the diagnostic survey method was used. The conclusions of the research made it possible to outline a picture of the spread of these dysfunctions in the school environment of the youth. The vast majority of the respondents declared that during the 12 months preceding the survey, they most frequently used alcohol. Only one out of ten respondents claimed to have abstained from alcohol. Also popular was the use of tobacco and cannabis (marijuana and hashish). The most signifi cant differences between girls and boys occurred primarily in the field of tobacco use, with the frequency of ‘1–5 cigarettes daily’ in favor of girls