Goal of the study was monitoring of the effectiveness of preventive activities in selected peer programs, which were implemented in our conditions. High school students from Bratislava, Žilina and Banská Bystrica were addressed by questionnaire methods for assessment of their knowledge, attitude s and experience with alcohol beverages and tobacco. Prior to that, they have been exposed to peer program of primary prevention: “While it is not too late.” Sample consisted of 285 subjects (138 boys and 147 girls). Control group was formed by students from the same high schools, from the classes where program of primary prevention was not conducted. It was 290 subjects (128 boys and 162 girls). The age range was between 16 and 18 years in both groups. The results indicated more knowledge about risks of drinking and tobacco smoking in research sample, contrary to that lower rate of life-time abstainers (2.9 % vs. 6.2 %), and higher rate of regular smokers (8.1 % vs. 4.9 %) in the research group. Our findings did not demonstrate preventive impact of peer program among adolescents in our conditions.

Key words: primary prevention – peer groups – evaluation