Young adolescents in "the nineties"

Our society still does not have a generally approved organisational model of integrated health care for adolescents, even though it is well known that the period of early adolescence is critical for further maturation. Furthermore, rapidly ongoing social changes can greatly modify the attitude towards life and the general opinion about young people. The goal of this survey was to find out the actual psycho-social stage of the group, regarding ongoing changes in society as a whole. We questioned 254 fourteen year old boys and girls, about 10% of eighth grade scholars from the town and outlying district of Rijeka. The questionnaire contained questions regarding self-concept, family, school, friendship, society, sex and substance abuse. The results are compared regarding sex and where they lives, urban or non-urban area. According to the results obtained, 14 year old children are still in familial homeostasis, and school is a major extra-familial ideal and support. Early adolescents are still sexually immature and therefore not ready for adequate relations with the opposite sex, without further consequences on their development. As for substance abuse, only long-term and prospective studies can reveal the exact figures as well as the rise in groups and individuals, and so form the basis for prevention strategies. Boys and girls show a greater interest in psycho-mental health, rather than acute illness which are in fact the major reason for visiting the doctor. Our results show that adolescents are generally friendly towards institutions, but they wish to modify them according to their needs, and each should have a specific program to satisfy various groups. The results should