BACKGROUND: The night time recreational environments have currently gained an important role in the juvenile life, determining life styles, standardizing the recreational consumption of alcohol and drugs, as well as the adoption of associated risk behaviours. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the profile of Portuguese young people attending nightlife recreational environments and determine the prevalence of violent behaviors based on sociodemographic variables, alcohol consumption and drug use, and engagement in recreational nightlife activities. METHODOLOGY: Interview applied to 1346 young people who used to go to nighttime recreational environments, both sexes, into 10 Portuguese cities, between 2007 and 2010, using the respondent-driven sampling. RESULTS: It was notified the existence of a positive relation among violent behaviours, alcohol consumption and drug use, and young people's engagement in recreational nightlife.Conclusions: It is suggested that preventive actions should be implemented in recreational environments, to meet the characteristics of young people presented in this study as predictors of violent behaviors.
Violence; Recreation; Alcohol Drinking; Drug-Seeking Behavior
