摘要：The study described in this article investigated contemporary young people’s perceptions ofdrugs and psychoactive substances (PAS). In the course of the research the following hypothesiswas tested: in young people’s perceptions about drugs and PAS there are differences inemotional coloring, coherence, and tolerance. J.-C. Abric’s structural approach was used as thebasic methodology. The free-associations method provided the bulk of the empirical material.The results obtained were processed via prototypic analysis (by P. Vergès’s method), indexing ofemotional associations (by E.E. Pronina’s method), and frequency and content analysis.As a result the core and the periphery of the perceptions of youth about drugs and PASwere described, and generalized notional categories that synthesize the structural elements ofthe perceptions were identified. The study revealed that the perceptions of young people aboutdrugs and PAS do differ in coherence, tolerance, and emotional coloring. Perceptions of drugsare firm, consistent, and negative, while perceptions of PAS are less coherent but dynamic andhave an ambivalent emotional coloration. The results are of prognostic importance for understandingyoung people’s attitudes toward drugs and PAS and can be used to design programsand measures directed to the prevention of PAS and drug abuse.
关键词：perceptions; structure of perceptions; core and periphery of perceptions; perceptions;of drugs; perceptions of psychoactive substances
