Behavioral Intention to Avoid Drug Abuse Works as Protective Factor among Adolescent.

BACKGROUND: Young people engage in risky behaviors unintentionally and these behaviors might be reduced or inhibited by preventative behaviors. Although adolescents' risky behaviors are known as unplanned or unintentional, preventative behaviors are intentional. The aim of the present study was to assess students' behavior intentions to avoid drug abuse. METHODS: This study was a cross sectional design that male high school students (n= 176) in Tehran, Iran completed a questionnaire assessing behavior intentions to avoid drug abuse, self-control, selfefficacy, perceived susceptibility, and negative attitudes toward drug abuse, peer resistance skills and substance abuse related behaviors. RESULTS: Peer resistance skills, negative attitude toward drugs, perceived self- efficacy, and high selfcontrol were four predictors on intention against drug abuse. Moreover, students' educational status, interested in school and truancy and spending with friends were other predictors for intention against drug abuse. CONCLUSION: Healthy behaviors are intentional. As a result improving behavior intentions to avoid drug abuse would act as a protective factor for preventing drug abuse among adolescents as well as preventing high-risk behaviors.

Peer influence and drug use among adolescents in rural areas.

A sample of 1,004 eighth and tenth grade students in twenty-three small Central/East Texas communities was assessed to determine 1) their perception of the number of their friends who use drugs, 2) the amount of information they received about drugs from their friends, and 3) the connection between those perceptions and drug use. A multiple regression model which included grade, gender, the degree to which friends are perceived to use drugs and the amount of information about drugs received from friends explained 39 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. An item specific analysis of the subcomponents of these composite variables explained 44 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. This same four-factor model accurately classified over 81 percent of non-drug-users and 67 percent of users using discriminant analysis. Students who perceived a higher degree of drug use among their friends and who received more information about drugs from their friends used drugs more frequently. Lower marijuana use in these rural areas as compared to the nation, both as a peer perception and as a fact, may protect these students to a degree from broader patterns of drug use. The findings of this study support the theory that peer pressure is related to drug abuse, even in rural areas.

Sources of drug information among adolescent students.

A sample of 1023 eighth and tenth grade students in small to medium-sized central Texas school districts was assessed to determine the amount of information they receive from ten sources about six categories of drugs. The amount of information males reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what females reported, and the amount of information that eighth graders reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what tenth graders reported. Television was the primary source of drug information for all categories of drugs except inhalants, for which friends and television were equally important sources. Parents and printed media (magazines or newspapers) were of secondary importance, followed by friends and teachers. Adolescents were less likely to receive drug-related information from experience, siblings, church, doctors, and police. The reliance on the mass media for drug information in smaller school districts is a pattern which has been previously observed in larger urban districts. This consistency suggests that mass media approaches to drug education are likely to be as effective in rural areas and smaller towns as they are among urban adolescents. Implications for television programming are discussed.