Predictors of excessive use of social media and excessive online gaming in Czech teenagers.

Background and aims Young people's involvement in online gaming and the use of social media are increasing rapidly, resulting in a high number of excessive Internet users in recent years. The objective of this paper is to analyze the situation of excessive Internet use among adolescents in the Czech Republic and to reveal determinants of excessive use of social media and excessive online gaming. Methods Data from secondary school students (N = 4,887) were collected within the 2015 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. Logistic regression models were constructed to describe the individual and familial discriminative factors and the impact of the health risk behavior of (a) excessive users of social media and (b) excessive players of online games. Results The models confirmed important gender-specific distinctions - while girls are more prone to online communication and social media use, online gaming is far more prevalent among boys. The analysis did not indicate an influence of family composition on both the excessive use of social media and on excessive online gaming, and only marginal effects for the type of school attended. We found a connection between the excessive use of social media and binge drinking and an inverse relation between excessive online gaming and daily smoking. Discussion and conclusion The non-existence of significant associations between family environment and excessive Internet use confirmed the general, widespread of this phenomenon across the social and economic strata of the teenage population, indicating a need for further studies on the topic.

Perception of neighborhood environment and health risk behaviors in Prague's teenagers: a pilot study in a post-communist city.

BACKGROUND: A youths' neighborhood can play an important role in their physical, health, and emotional development. The prevalence of health risk behavior (HRB) in Czech youth such as smoking, drug and alcohol use is the highest in Europe. AIM: To analyze differences in HRB in youth residents within different types of Prague's neighborhoods in relation to the perception of the built environment, quality of their school and home environments. DATA AND METHODS: The data is based on the on-line survey among elementary school students aged between 14-15 years, which was administered in19 selected schools in Prague, during the months of October 2013 to March 2014. Respondents were asked their opinions on various issues related to their HRB, about their indoor and outdoor housing and school environments. The questionnaire was completed by 407 students. Factor analysis with a principal components extraction was applied to determine the underlying structure in the variables. A consequent field research was conducted to map the opportunity hot spots and critical places around the elementary schools. RESULTS: Binge drinking has been reported mainly by the students living in the housing estates with blocks of flats. The most frequent occurrence of daily smokers was found in the neighborhoods of old city apartment houses. High prevalence of risky marijuana use almost in all the surveyed types of neighborhoods. The respondents were more critical in their evaluation of school characteristics. The neighborhoods critically evaluated by the students as regards the school outdoor environments were the older apartment houses in the historical centre and inner city, the school indoor environment was worst assessed within the housing estate neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that perceptions of problems in both residential and school environment are associated with HRB. This fact makes this issue of a serious importance also from the policy point of view. Mainly the school surroundings have to be better managed by the local authorities responsible for the public space. This research thus forms part of the Sophie project aiming to find the most efficient policies that would tackle with the inequalities in the health and quality of life.

Multiple health risk behaviour in Czech adolescents: family, school and geographic factors.

The study examines the relationship of family, school and geographic factors in relation to the prevalence of different health risk behaviours among Czech adolescents (aged 15-16 years) based on cross-sectional study design. Risk behaviours such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and marijuana use among adolescents have often been shown to co-occur with each other. Data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs 2007 were used. A total of 7616 students from the Czech Republic were analysed in the study. About two thirds of students (63.5%) did not engage in any type of considered health risk behaviour, 21.1% reported one risk, 10.8% two risks, and 4.6% three risks. Thus, in sum 15.4% of Czech, students were engaged in multiple risk behaviour forms. Separate multilevel logistic regression models were performed in order to explore the redistribution of factors on categories of multiple health risk behaviour.

Inequalities in smoking in the Czech Republic: societal or individual effects?

Smoking constitutes one of the main public health problems worldwide. In the Czech Republic, one of the post-communist countries undergoing societal transition, there was a significant decrease in smoking prevalence during 1985-1997, followed by certain stagnation in prevalence of smokers. The most serious problem is the smoking among young population and socially disadvantaged groups. This paper examines social inequalities in smoking in the Czech population using multilevel approach. Data were analysed by multilevel modelling using smoking in the past, current smoking and current moderate/heavy smoking as outcomes of interest. Men were significantly more likely to be smokers than women. Further, the analysis confirmed that current smoking is the most common among young people. Education was strongly inversely related to all smoking outcomes. Smoking was also significantly more reported by divorced and unemployed individuals. While the association between small-area characteristics and smoking was limited, smoking was more common in the areas with higher unemployment and higher proportion of non-Czech nationals.

Social inequalities in alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic: a multilevel analysis.

Czech Republic traditionally ranks among the countries with the highest alcohol, consumption. This paper examines both risk and protective factors for frequent of alcohol, consumption in the Czech population using multilevel analysis. Risk factors were measured at the, individual level and at the area level. The individual-level data were obtained from a survey for a, sample of 3526 respondents aged 18-64 years. The area-level data were obtained from the Czech, Statistical Office. The group most inclinable to risk alcohol consumption and binge drinking are mainly, men, who live as single, with low education and also unemployed. Only the variable for divorce rate, showed statistical significance at both levels, thus the individual and the aggregated one. No cross-level interactions were found to be statistically significant.