Drug-Using Behaviors of Turkish Armed Forces Service Members: A Social Control Perspective

Abstract

The present study asked whether and how social-bond factors and self-control factors affect drug use by members of the Turkish armed forces, a key institution in Turkey, where all male citizens complete mandatory military duty. To implement the study’s 2-stage sampling design, first we randomly selected a sample of troops serving in Turkey’s 4 military branches, the army, navy, air force, and gendarmerie. This sample proportionally represented the military’s makeup by the 4 branches. From it, we then chose randomly a subsample from each group, obtaining a final sample of 4,461 men. Each participating service member self-administered a questionnaire approved by the institutional review board of Gulhane Military Medical Academy’s Psychology and War Psychiatry Department located in Istanbul. Data from the Mehmetcik 2015 Field Study survey was subjected to negative binomial regression, and results showed participants’ drug use to be inversely associated, overall, with self-control and social-bond factors. Drug-use behavior also differ by military units being served. An implication of the results is that drug prevention/intervention for service members could usefully target young men prior to conscription and persisting into their first months of military duty, aimed at enhancing their social bonds and self-control.