Risk and Protective Factors in addiction Proneness among High School Adolescents

Some unfavorable social and family settings increase the person's vulnerability to substance abuse and predispose a person to addiction. This study aims to investigate the risk and protective factors of addiction proneness among high school adolescents. This descriptive correlational study was conducted with the participation of 367 students of secondary high schools in Urmia aged 16 to 20 years old. Sampling was done by cluster random sampling based on area, gender, field, and academic year. Data were collected using demographic information questionnaire and the Addiction Susceptibility Questionnaire-adolescents Version (ASQ-AV). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, independent t-test, and multiple regression with SPSS-22 software. In this study, 178 (48.5%) girls and 189 (51.5%) boys were in the second, third and fourth grades, and studied in humanitarian, natural, and mathematical sciences. Boys were more prone to addiction: mean (SD) score=83.4(18.1), P=0.02. Poor education status (P<0.001), larger number of friends (P<0.001) were risk factors of addiction proneness. Higher academic achievement (P<0.001), the amount of time parents spend with their children (P<0.05), and the amount of time children spend with their parents (P<0.005) were protective factors of addiction proneness. Other factors including smoking, age at onset of smoking initiation, exercising, place of residence, mother’s employment, type of housing, family income, and parental education played no significant role in addiction proneness among students. Being a male student, having poor education status, and socializing with many friends are predispose students to addiction. In contrast, being a female student, having good academic achievements, spending a lot of time both on the parental side and from the students’ side put students at lower risk for addiction proneness