Psychological correlates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among adolescents

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2006
Karakaş, Özge
The aim of the present study was to identify sociodemographic and psychological correlates of adolescent tobacco, alcohol and drug use. Participants were 854 high school students (485 girls, 369 boys) aged between 14-18. Participants were administered a Demographic Information Form, Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking, seven subscales of Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI) and Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Use Questionnaire. Twelve point two percent of the students reported cigarette use, 23.5 % reported alcohol use and 2.3 % reported illicit drug use at least once in their lives. Independent Samples t-test Analysis revealed that smokers received higher scores than non-smokers on sensation seeking, psychiatric disorder, behavior patterns, school performance / adjustment, peer relations, family system and leisure subscales of DUSI but there was not a significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in terms of social competency. Also, it was found that both alcohol users scored higher than non-users on sensation seeking, psychiatric disorder, behavior patterns, school performance / adjustment, peer relations, family system but there was not a significant difference between alcohol users and non-users in terms of scores on leisure and social competency. Drug users scored significantly higher than randomly selected non-users on sensation seeking, behavior patterns and peer relations scales. Logistic regression analysis revealed that adolescent smoking was predicted by gender, age, G.P.A., place of birth, peer smoking, behavior patterns, social competency, school problems and family relations. Besides, alcohol use was predicted by gender, age, number of siblings, maternal education, peer smoking, peer alcohol use, social competency, school performance / adjustment and family relations. Findings are discussed within the context of the relevant literature.

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Citation Formats
Ö. Karakaş, “Psychological correlates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among adolescents,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2006.