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

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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.