Environmental factors as predictors of alcohol use among ninth-grade adolescents in Pitkaranta (Russian Karelia) and in eastern Finland.

Background: In Russia, tobacco and alcohol use by adolescents are serious problems. In Finland, as in many other European countries, alcohol use is a growing concern.

Aims: This study aimed to find out whether similar environmental factors predict adolescents' alcohol use among 15-year old adolescents in two politically and economically different cultures: in the Pitkäranta district in Russian Karelia and in eastern Finland.

Environmental factors as predictors of smoking among ninth-grade adolescents in Pitkäranta (Russian Karelia) and in eastern Finland.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether similar environmental factors predict adolescents' smoking in two different cultures: in the Pitkäranta district in Russian Karelia and in eastern Finland. The data were gathered by self-administered questionnaires from ninth-grade students in 10 comprehensive schools in Pitkäranta (n = 385) and from age-matched students in 24 schools in eastern Finland (n = 2,098). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether similar path structures fit for boys and for girls in Pitkäranta and in eastern Finland, and to test whether regression coefficients were similar between the cultures by sex.

Smoking patterns among ninth-grade adolescents in the Pitkäranta district (Russia) and in eastern Finland.

This study describes how ninth-grade adolescents' smoking behavior in the Pitkäranta district (Russia) differs from their eastern Finland counterparts. Cross-sectional data from the second North Karelia Youth Study and the Pitkäranta Youth Study were used. Subjects were all (n=385) ninth-grade students in 10 comprehensive schools in Pitkäranta and all (n=2098) students of the same age in 24 comprehensive schools in eastern Finland.