Cannabis prevention
Prevention programme IPSY8 can
Research
Overview of the department's research projects
Graffiti im Stadtbild von Jena
The research projects of the Department of Youth Research include basic and applied studies on developmental issues. Individual and context-related mechanisms of psychosocial adjustment in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood are analysed using biopsychosocial and culturally sensitive approaches. Building on this, measures for the prevention of adjustment disorders and the promotion of positive developmental trajectories are developed, evaluated and successfully implemented in practice.
Completed research projects
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Long-term review of the IPSY prevention programme
IPSY(Information+ PsychosocialCompetence = Protection) is an addiction prevention life skills programme that is carried out in schools to promote general life skills and make the misuse of psychoactive substances less likely in adolescence. This intervention programme has been evaluated at the University of Jena in a longitudinal design using an experimental and control group in a school context since 2003, as well as by other scientific teams in Austria and Italy. Overall, the programme proved to be very successful (more information under IPSY de). The aim of this project is to build on this by investigating whether participation in the IPSY programme in childhood has an effect on psychosocial adjustment into early adulthood. Since 2013, the Thuringian sample has been individually contacted for the review of the intervention programme (7th and 8th survey waves, 10 and 12 years after the start of the programme implementation). Already in the 10-year follow-up, we observed long-term addiction-preventive and development-promoting effects into early adulthood, which we will further validate in subsequent follow-ups, collect data using diagnostic criteria for substance-related disorders and compare between the experimental and control groups.
Project management
Associate Prof. Dr Karina Weichold
Dr Anja Blumenthal -
Crystal meth use among adolescents and young adults: Prevalence and risk
Crystal meth is a substance with dangerous side effects and a high potential for addiction that has been on the rise in Germany for several years and, according to the media, is increasingly being used in schools and universities. Unfortunately, little is known about the proportion of people who actually use crystal meth and which groups are at particular risk and why. Current studies at the Professorship of Psychology are investigating how widespread the substance is among adolescents and young adults in eastern Germany and which risk factors are important. This includes an anonymous questionnaire survey at pre-vocational schools, vocational schools and grammar schools in Thuringia and Saxony. Furthermore, students at institutions of higher education and universities in eastern Germany are surveyed anonymously via the Internet. Finally, another focus is on special risk populations, such as mothers who use crystal meth.
Project management
Associate Prof. Dr Karina Weichold
Dr Anja Blumenthal