Meta-analysis of Research Conducted in the Field of Social Problems in Iran, with Emphasis on Drug Abuse

Social problem issues in a transitional and developing society such as Iran are complex and multi-dimensional which need contemplation and consultation with scholars to understand them. Results of “National Survey of Values and Attitudes” in Iran indicate that respondents count drug abuse as third social problems in society after unemployment and inflation. Due to drug addiction in society, a meta-analysis was performed with the aim of identifying the most important factors influencing drug abuse in the research conducted. The research method of this paper is meta-analysis. Population of the study were almost all scientific papers with the subject of drug abuse in three journals of “Journal of Social Problems of Iran”, “Social Welfare Journal” and "Journal of Research on Addiction" which were published in 2001 and 2013. The results showed that most researches used cross-sectional, documents and secondary analysis as their method of study. The deviant behavior perspective (social control, differential association and criminal subculture) is the most important theoretical perspective that has been used to explain drug abuse. The results showed that effect size of variables of addicted friends (effect size= 0.33) and the attachment to family (effect size= - 0.27) has the greatest impact on drug abuse among studies reviewed.