BACKGROUND: Youth drop-in centres (YDICs) represent the only social service for adolescents. The employees of these centres focus on the personal development of their clients so as to help them succeed and pass safely from childhood into adulthood. They provide them with support and help them with difficult life situations. In order for YDICs to achieve their goals, the employees have to know the people they work with in depth. The basic question of our research was therefore: “What risk activities do they indulge in?” AIMS: The aim of this work is to provide information about the results of nationwide research focused on the prevalence of risk behaviour among clients of YDICs and a comparison with the data obtained in the context of research on risk behaviour amongst adolescents carried out in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. METHODS:We used the Prevalence of Risk Behaviour among Adolescents method (VRCHA) to screen out risk behaviour. PARTICIPANTS: The testing was carried out on a representative sample of adolescents (499 respondents) aged 11–15 years who were using the services of YDICs. RESULTS: We examined the prevalence of risk behaviour within three factors – abuse, delinquency, and bullying (from the point of view of the victim). Using the VRCHA method, we analysed the prevalence values of specific risk activities. We compared the data from the respondents aged 11–15 with the population standards created by Dolejš et al. (2014) and with the results of a replication study (Dolejš, Zemanová, & Vavrysová, 2017) and data from a standardization study carried out in Slovakia (Čerešník & Gatial, 2014). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the clients of YDICs aged 11–15 years score higher than the current Czech and Slovak populations in 99% of the items that were monitored.

Palacky University Faculty of Arts Department of Psychology Olomouc Czech Republic

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