An Investigation into Factors Affecting Formationof the Youth's (aged between 18 and 29) Attitude towards Addictive Substances

Addiction to drugs, a social issue resulting from a deviant behavior, has had an unprecedented growth and is considered as a multifaceted phenomenon. There are different reasons for people’s tendency towards addiction. Weakness of attitude is one of the main causes leading people to drug abuse. The present study aims at identifying the factors affecting attitude of the youth (aged between 18 and 29) about addictive substances and preventing them from tending towards drug abuse. In this applied research, documentary and survey methods are used.In line with this, taking into consideration a framework combining theories of Zajonc, Bandura, Jesser, Kretch& Crutchfield & Ballachey, Oetting & Beauvaiseand Fisbbein&Ajzen, seven hypotheses are determined to identify factors forming attitude of the population in question. Accordingly, using an appropriately designed questionnaire, 400 youngstersaged between 18 and 29 based in Tehran are tested via multiphase cluster sampling and based on categorization of Tehran into 5 areas. The data are analyzed by Regression Analysis, Pearson and Non-parametric Tests and KruskalWallis analysis.According to the research hypotheses and based on the results, it can be concluded that factors such as family`s financial ability, how the family treats addictive substances, how friends treatdrugs, drug abuse by family members and friendsall contribute to formation of the youth’s attitude towards drug, and the individual`s dependence on friends does not have any effect ontheir attitude. Also, according to the results achieved through Regression Analysis,friends have more influence than family when it comes to formation of attitude towards narcotic substances. At the end,the results, whichindicate that compared with friends, family is weak in forming the youth’s attitude,lay stress on the fact that designing preventive programs to increasethe abilities of families and improve the relation between families and friends is quite essential.