Abstract:

The health of working youth is important for sustainable economic and social structure. However, the risk of substance abuse is high at this group. The cross-sectional study was conducted on 02-29 April 2018 to determine the prevalence of cigarette, alcohol, drug use and risk factors among apprenticies who work full-time in a workplace and attend vocational training center. The data was collected with the Descriptive Properties and Substance Use Questionnaire and was analyzed with descriptive statistics, significance tests and Binary Logistic Regression, p≤0.05 was considered significant. It was found that 50.5% of the youth tried smoking, 36.0% tried alcohol and 6.2% tried drugs. Smoking is a gateway for other substance use. Easy access to the substance increases the use of all types of substances. Mother relationship dissatisfaction (5.1 times), presence of smokers in the workplace (5.5 times), having friends who use alcohol (2.5 times) increase the risk of using multiple substance (p<0.05). Consequently, early stage of apprenticeship is critical period in terms of encounter the substance. Because of familial factors, working environment, labour conditions and high subtance use level from their general education peers, young worker should be as a priority group for substance abuse prevention programme.    

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