Predicting Students’ Illicit Drug Use Intentions: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Substance use disorders are a significant global public health issue, causing considerable suffering, trauma, and financial burden. With the increasing prevalence of drug use and its detrimental consequences, it is crucial to identify predictors and implement preventive measures to address these problems. The main aim of the present study was to test the utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict university students’ illicit drug use intentions in the Indian context.

The study used a cross-sectional research design and included a sample of 1254 students (male=473, female=781) aged 15-29 (Median age=22.61). Participants completed the measures of attitude, perceived norms, refusal self-efficacy and drug use intentions. Structural Equation Modeling was utilised to analyse the effectiveness of TPB constructs to predict university students’ drug use intentions.

The results indicated that positive attitude and perceived norms were positively related with drug use intentions, while refusal self-efficacy was negatively related. The proposed model accounted for (30%) of the variance in students’ illicit drug use intentions. The analysis of Regression weight estimates and critical ratios represented that the perceived norms and perceived behavioural control significantly predicted drug use intention. However, contrary to expectations, attitude did not predict drug use intentions.

The findings of the present study highlighted the usefulness of TPB in predicting drug use intentions in the Indian context. These findings will benefit drug use intervention programmes.