For citation: Minyurova S. A., Kruzhkova O. V., Vorobyeva I. V., Matveeva A. I. Addictive behaviour of adolescents and young men in the education system: Review of psychological and pedagogical research
Authors: Minyurova S. A. , Kruzhkova O. V. , Vorobyeva I. V. , Matveeva A. I. 
Published: June 2022

Introduction. Addictive behaviour of students today is one of the most acute problems of the education system. Not only chemical addiction leads to serious problems, but also social networks, smartphones, gaming addictions lead to a significant decrease in the level of physical and mental health of adolescents and young men, socio-psychological maladaptation in society, violation of their psychological well-being and in critical cases – the development of suicidal risks. Nevertheless, a comprehensive study of the experience in psychological and pedagogical research in the field of addictive behaviour with the generalisation of methodological approaches and empirical results has not been conducted yet (although such review studies are present in relation to general and specific issues of addictive behaviour, its spread in individual countries or geographical regions, the role of the family, etc.). At the same time, such studies are necessary to ensure a complete understanding of the problem from the perspective of the educational organisation and the possibilities of the educational environment in the prevention of the spread of addictive behaviour among students.

Aim. The aim of the study was to review and systematise international research in the field of psychological and pedagogical study of addictive behaviour of students.

Methodology and research methods. The selection of scientific publications in the international scientometric database Scopus was carried out for inclusion in the review with search depth from 2011 to the present. The authors used the following keywords complexes for the search: “addiction&school”, “addictive behaviour&school”, “drug&school”, “alcohol&school”, “tobacco&school”, “internet addiction&school”, “gambling&school”. The specified word complexes such as “article title, short description, keywords” were included in the search section. Additional search restrictions were the type of articles (reviews, article); the chosen field of science was “Psychology” and an additional keyword was “adolescent”. After analysis the final list of selected publications amounted to 246 works.

Results. The results of the study made it possible to systematise scientific publications and identify trends in the consideration of addictive behaviour in psychological and pedagogical research in the education system. Thus, it was revealed that the definition of addictive behaviour has a specific interpretation in relation to the concept of dependent behaviour. Behavioural manifestations of addictive behaviour in chemical and behavioural addictions have similar characteristics, whereas personal predictors, which determine the propensity of students to choose this deviation, may have ambivalent characteristics depending on the chosen form of addictive behaviour. At the same time, the forms of addictive behaviour of students in the educational environment are diverse and include both chemical addictions (smoking, alcohol and drug addiction) and behavioural variants of addictive behaviour (Internet addiction and dependence on video and computer games). At the same time, any of the listed addictions individually, or taking into account their combined nature, leads to a decrease in the success of training and unsatisfactory academic performance of students. In addition, difficulties in learning and interacting with other subjects of the educational environment may (among other things) be a factor stimulating the emergence of addictive behaviour as a form of care or compensation. Prevention of addictive behaviour, as a rule, is based on informing about the negative consequences of addictions, but it can take into account both the peculiarities of social behaviour and learning of adolescents and young men, as well as their personal characteristics, which act as zones of vulnerability for the development of addiction.

Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the authors systematised scientific research in the field of psychological and pedagogical study of addictive behaviour of students, taking into account current trends in the spread of both chemical and non-chemical addictions, as well as their combined nature of distribution among adolescents and young men.

Practical significance. The practical significance is due to the potential possibilities of using the data obtained to organise effective prophylactic work for preventing the development of addictive behaviour among students within the framework of the educational process in an educational organisation, taking into account international experience and psychological and pedagogical basis.