Factors Related to the Anticipated Use of Drugs by Urban Junior High School Students

Abstract

The major objective of this study was to examine factors related to intentions to use drugs in the future by urban junior high school students. One hundred forty-eight subjects enrolled in Health Education classes were administered four questionnaires during two consecutive classroom sessions: 1) the Stanford University Drug Evaluation Questionnaire; 2) the Drug Attitude Scale of the Pennsylvania State University Drug Education Evaluation Scale; 3) the Self-Observation Scales; and 4) the School Atmosphere Questionnaire. The results indicated that: adolescents who currently report using drugs had a significantly higher mean anticipatory use score than those who reported that they did not use drugs; subjects who had friends who used drugs had a higher mean anticipatory drug use score than subjects who did not have friends who used drugs; adolescents with a pro-drug attitude had more ambiguous feelings toward future drug use when compared to adolescents who were anti-drug; subjects who were low in self-security and teacher affiliation anticipated using drugs more than subjects high in self-security and teacher affiliation. Current drug use, friend's drug use, attitude toward drugs and self-concept all play an important role in the adolescent's intentions to use drugs in the future.