Cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students.

Farzad Jalilian,Mehdi Mirzaei Alavijeh,Touraj Ahmadi Jouybari,Mari Ataee,Behzad Karami Matin,Mohammad Ahmadpanah,Mohammad Mahboubi,Ahmad Ali Eslami

doi:10.5539/gjhs.v7n5p143

Abstract

Backgrounds:Drug abuse is one of the most serious social problems in many countries. College students, particularly at their first year of education, are considered as one of the at risk groups for drug abuse. The present study aimed to determine cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students based on the social cognitive theory (SCT).Method:This cross-sectional study was carried out on 425 Iranian male medical college students who were randomly selected to participate voluntarily in the study. The participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by the SPSS software (ver. 21.0) using bivariate correlations, logistic and linear regression at 95% significant level.Results:Attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, subjective norms, and self-control were cognitive factors that accounted for 49% of the variation in the outcome measure of the intention to abuse drugs. Logistic regression showed that attitude (OR=1.062), outcome expectancies (OR=1.115), and subjective norms (OR=1.269) were the most influential predictors for drug abuse.Conclusions:The findings suggest that designing and implementation of educational programs may be useful to increase negative attitude, outcome expectancies, and subjective norms towards drug abuse for college students in order to prevent drug abuse.

Highlights

Drug abuse is considered as one of the main social problems worldwide
The present study aimed to determine cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students based on the social cognitive theory (SCT)
Attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, subjective norms, and self-control were cognitive factors that accounted for 49% of the variation in the outcome measure of the intention to abuse drugs

Summary

Introduction

Drug abuse is considered as one of the main social problems worldwide. It ruins lots of lives and huge national capitals are spent to deal with its detrimental consequences on societies. Collage students at their first year of education are considered as an in danger group for drug abuse. This is attributed to some factors such as entering a new phase of life, leaving their family, peer tension, etc. Studies have noted that training is the most effective method to prevent drug abuse (Tavousi et al, 2013). On the other hand, designing and editing effective prevention plans require deep understanding of causes of the phenomenon and related factors (Springer et al, 2004).The most efficient training programs stem from theoretical approaches www.ccsenet.org/gjhs

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