Physical and Recreational Activities, Sedentary Screen Time, Time Spent with Parents and Drug Use in Adolescents.

In a context in which sedentary screen time is on the rise and adolescents are less eager to engage in free-time activities, physical and recreational activities, although too often ignored, have proven to be an antidote for a large array of psychological and behavioral problems in adolescents, including drug use. The present study is a cross-sectional investigation of the association between physical and recreational activities, sedentary screen time, and time spent with parents and the intensity of drug use in adolescents. The participants were part of a representative sample of 2677 adolescents from Bucharest, Romania. The results indicate that vigorous physical and recreational activities, as well as time spent with parents, were negatively associated with an index of drug use (13 drugs), while screen time positively predicted the intensity of drug use. These findings raise the question of the involvement of parents and educational authorities in promoting healthy behaviors and good practices for the prevention of drug use and improving public adolescents' health.

Social predictors of the transition from anomie to deviance in adolescence.

Adolescence is a complicated, full of challenges and explorations period in life on the way to adulthood. The behaviour of adolescents is considerably re-configuring under the pressure of biological, psychological, and social transformations, and the internalization of community rules and values, as well as the adoption of desirable behaviours, is not always easy or successful. During adolescence, anomie can easily become an attractive status quo, but it can also evolve, however, relatively easy, to delinquency. This exploratory study, part of the Planet Youth project, is based on an analysis of 17 items from a questionnaire applied to a sample of 2,694 young people in Bucharest, Romania, in 2018, high schoolers in grades 9-11. The main objective of this approach was to assess the impact of some socio-cultural factors regarding school, family, peer group, and neighbourhood on the adoption of deviant and delinquent behaviours among Bucharest teenagers. For data analysis, two dependent variables were built by aggregating items in the questionnaire: the level of anomie (composed of 8 items) and deviant behaviour (composed of 17 items). As independent variables, 17 predictors composed from 67 questions from the questionnaire were used. The main results reflect a high level of anomie among the adolescents of Bucharest and a low level of deviance, and a weak link between these two variables. On the other hand, adolescent anomie and deviance are favoured by anger management, perceived peer attitudes to substance use and digital leisure, together with low parental surveillance.

Negative life events and internalizing problems among Romanian youth.

During adolescence individuals face multiple stressful events, but it is not clear how these impact adolescents' adjustment and what factors buffer their negative effects. The present exploratory study investigates the relationship between frequency, proximity, and intensity of negative life events and occurrence of internalizing symptoms in a sample of Romanian adolescents. 2690 youth aged 15-16 from capital city of Romania filled in a series of measures from Youth in Europe Study. Hierarchical regression was employed to test for the explanatory value of individual (gender and family status), relational (parents and peer support), and negative life events on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Frequency and proximity of negative life events explained 35.8% in the displaying of depressive symptoms. After controlling for individual and relational variables, occurrence, proximity, and intensity of negative life events significantly contributed to explaining heightened anxiety symptoms (R2 = .246). Adolescents reporting more frequent, earlier in time and more intensive negative events also reported more depressive and anxiety symptoms, thus, supporting the relationship between occurrence of adversities and negative mental health outcomes.