Addiction is a chronic recurring disease of the brain and significantly complicates, and in some aspects even prevents, normal psychophysical and psychosocial growth and development. If addictive behavior (which can lead to addiction) appears earlier in life (in childhood or youth), the risks of developing addiction later in life increase significantly. Therefore, it is important to take measures to prevent unfavorable developmental outcomes resulting from risky behaviors, which is the basis of preventive interventions. Preventive outcomes are difficult to measure, therefore it is important to adhere to the methodology, and the first step in this context is to investigate incidence. The longer a risky behavior is monitored, the more clearly the trends can be observed and therefore the space for preventive action can be determined more precisely. This work therefore covers the monitoring of addictive behaviors of young people over 40 years and provides an insight into the trends of individual risks for young people. It was conducted among Virovitica high school students in three waves of research in 1983, 1988 and 2023.

addiction, research, trends, students