Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Drug Abuse Related Behaviors

Drug abuse among adolescents potentially holds several negative consequences for the health and well-being of the youth. This theoretically based study explained predictability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on drug abuse related behaviors among adolescents.
This descriptive study was conducted in Yazd City, Iran, in 2015 among 125 male adolescents in the age range of 11 - 29 years, recruited randomly. All data gathered by using self-report written questionnaires included attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention not to use drugs as theoretical constructs of TPB, and drug abuse related behaviors.
The results showed that 18 % of participants were smoker, 97 % of them did not have history of synthetic drug abuse by parents, and 6 % of participants reported synthetic drug abuse by friends. Results of Chi-square test showed that there was a significant relationship between smoking and father's education, family size, history of synthetic drugs in parents, history of synthetic drugs in friends, and participant's job (P 0.000). However, maternal education (P = 682) and living with parents (P = 729) did not have any significant relationship.
The low prevalence of Drug abuse in this study in comparison with the existing statistics can attribute to lack of participant's reports.