Examining the Experience of Substance Dependence in College Students: A Grounded Theory Study

The aim of this study was to analyze and discover different factors that influence substance dependence and the tendency to substance use in students.

The method used in this study was qualitative grounded theory. The statistical population of this study included all unmarried male college students in Yasuj city, among whom 17 subjects were selected by purposive sampling, based on the saturation principle and in-depth semi-structured interview. The systematic analysis method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) and the three methods of open, central and selective coding were used to analyze the interviews. The three-stage recur method was used to analyze the interview data. The data were analyzed in three stages: open coding, axial coding and selective coding. According to the results, the core concept of the model was determined as non-effective beliefs of substance users’ categories.

The results showed that the determinant and effective platforms for the tendency and addiction to substance use included educational, cultural, familial, social, economic and psychological aspects. Coding of the data led to the creation of categories and subcategories representing the causal, contextual, strategies and consequences of the lived experience of drug use from the perspective of the research participants.

The indicators in each of the components of the above classes can lead to substance dependence in a chain and together with other categories in a causal, background or intervening way. Based on the results of this assessment, it is possible to identify students at risk for substance use and to determine preventive and therapeutic measures for them.