Investigating the Role of Attitude towards Substance use in the Relationship between Students' Self-Efficacy and Preparedness for Addiction

Drug use in adolescents and its implications are an important public health issue that can lead to long-term costs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of attitude to substance in the relationship between self-efficacy and adolescents' preparedness of addiction. The present study is descriptive-correlational performed on 228 high school students (116 girls, 112 boys) in Lorestan province, who are selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Data collection tools are Rahmati Attitude to Substance Questionnaire (ASQ), Muris Self-efficacy Questionnaire-Children (SEQ-C), and Zargar Iranian Addiction Potential Scale (IAPS). Data are analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis in SPSS software version 22. The results show that there are significant correlations between attitude to substance, self-efficacy and addiction preparedness (P < 0.05). Also, the results of hierarchical regression analysis indicate that attitude toward substance can moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and addiction preparedness (P < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that the attitude toward substance can moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and addiction preparedness. Consequently, changing the attitude of individuals to substance can reduce the tendency of adolescents to consume drugs.