Assessing the Aftermath of War among Teens in Bosnia & Serbia: Measures of Substance Abuse and Delinquency with the POSIT (Problem-Oriented Screening Instrument for Teens)

Abstract

The Balkan Wars of 1991 to 2002 left the former Yugoslavia in ruins, a situation made only worst with the recent worldwide recession. Untreated civilians and Veterans caught up in the war, the worst in Europe since World War II, has had an even greater impact on youth. Sectarian hostilities and prejudices within and between the three major ethnic populations in Bosnia–Herzegovina—Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks, and Catholic Croats, as well as the Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians in Serbia/Kosovo—has led to impulsive violence and increasing mental and physical health problems among these second-generation war victims. The authors' pilot study administered a Slavic-language Problem-Oriented Screening Instrument for Teens to schools in Bosnia–Herzegovina that represented the three major sectarian groups (Orthodox, Bosniak, Catholic) as well as in the war-torn Vojvodina province of Serbia.

KEYWORDS:

• Teens, alcohol use/abuse
• mental health
• family cohesion
• sectarianism