Download or read book Substance Use in a Comparative Perspective written by Arnošt Veselý and published by Karolinum Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book follows two main objectives. First, it aims at putting together different pieces of evidence on developments of substance use and risk behavior in five post-communist countries over time. Thus, first objective is to build a complex and reliable empirical evidence base for empirical comparison (and identify evidence gaps). Second, we try to analyze and interpret such developments using both quantitative and qualitative analysis and to relate them to the formulated theoretical framework. Since available empirical evidence is often far from conclusive, the findings presented are sometimes rather exploratory and should be tested by further and more detailed research. The book is structured as follows. At the beginning, we review various factors that have been found to be associated with substance use. We try to present them in a complex and systematic way and create a conceptual framework for understanding and explaining substance use in a comparative way. Next chapter describes the developments of substance use over time in five countries analyzed. This description is based upon publicly available WHO data, along with supplementary comments and interpretations by national experts. Next chapter is devoted to country profiles of all five countries involved in the project and in-depth overviews of developments in their respective substance use situations. All reviews are written according to the same structure, thus facilitating comparison. The last chapter presents a multilevel analysis of substance use in the Czech Republic combining data for individuals and regions.