Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This study investigated the degree to which substance use (illicit drugs and alcohol) has become 'normalised' among young Russians. The study used three data gathering methods:a quantitative survey based on a self-completion questionnaire was distributed to three cohorts of young people - 14/15-year-olds ('8th class' in school), 16/17-year-olds ('10th class') and 18/19-year-olds (1st years in higher/further education institutions). The survey was fielded in a total of nine small, medium and large cities in three regions of Russiaparallel semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sub-sample of survey respondents (95 across all 9 sitesa 6-week period of ethnographic follow-up research was conducted 12 months later, with a total of 19 groups of young people, in 3 of the 9 sites in which the survey and interview elements of the research were conductedThe study was conducted in the Komi Republic, Samara and Krasnodar Territory regions of Russia. This ensured a geographical span from the Black Sea to the Arctic Circle, and therefore encompassed the cannabis-growing regions of the south, the drugs trafficking routes in the middle Volga region, and the isolated far north of the country. The study investigated 'normalisation' of drug and alcohol use in terms of individual use, by gathering prevalence data and qualitative research charting drugs decisions and drugs careers. It also considered the role of young people's immediate environment (especially the friendship group) and the wider environment (especially the discursive construction of drug use, and the presence of drugs in the youth cultural environment). The range of drugs education and prevention work being conducted in the three regions was also investigated, through a series of expert interviews and by noting the young people's experience of the effectiveness of these interventions. This mixed methods data collection includes transcripts of the semi-structured interviews conducted with young people as described above, and results from the self-completion survey. Users should note that both the data and documentation are mostly in Russian, though an English interview guide listing topics covered in the interviews has been compiled by Beate Lichtwardt at the UK Data Archive.
Main Topics:
Topics covered include youth culture and activities, family and educational background, employment, drug and alcohol use, drug purchase and dealing, social activities and gathering places.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
First stage: medium and small towns in each region with typical sex-age and educational structures were sampled. Second stage: general educational, vocational and higher educational institutions were selected in which to conduct the survey (at this stage, the percentage of youth in neither work nor education was calculated in order to establish the impact of their exclusion from the sample). At the final stage, random sampling methods were used to select classes and groups of young people to survey.
Face-to-face interview
Self-completion