Personal Variables and the Attitudes of Medical Students Toward Substance Abuse

Abstract

Medical students at The University of Calgary were surveyed about their experiences with and attitudes toward alcohol abuse using the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST), the Codependency Assessment Inventory (CDAI), the CAGE's four questions, and the Substance Abuse Attitude Survey (SAAS). Nineteen percent of the 110 respondents showed strong evidence that they were the offspring of alcoholics (CAST ≥ 6), 22% reported strong codependency traits (CDAI ≥ 30), and 22% showed evidence of alcohol problems (CAGE ≥ 2). Among the five subscales of the SAAS, three showed a significant amount of variance determined by the personal variables investigated.