Epidemiologic Survey of the Illicit Drugs and Alcohol Use in Sophomore Male Students of Tabriz's High Schools

Limited information is available on adolescent’s substance abuse in Iran. The aim of this study is to estimate prevalence of substance abuse among the sample of sophomore male students in Tabriz city, and to evaluate the associated factors. Of all sophomore male students in Tabriz, 1785(13.7%) were randomly sampled, and a self-administered questionnaire with 48 questions was distributed to students in February and March 2005. The questions aimed to obtain information on substance abuse, smoking, self-confidence, tendency toward smoking and risk-taking behaviors as well as demographic information. The influence of different factors on substance abuse was evaluated with a logistic regression model. The mean age of the subjects was 16.3±0.87 (min. 15, max. 19) years. Among 1785 students 226(12.7%) had the experience of taking alcohol and 36(2.0%) had used substances. The results indicate that, older age (OR= 1.55), having general risk taking behavior (OR= 1.70), higher smoking stage (OR= 3.70), having masochism (OR= 1.22), high socioeconomic class (OR= 1.62), and use of illicit substances (OR= 5.72) were factors associated with prevalence of the use of alcohol. Also higher smoking stage (OR= 3.26), high socioeconomic class (OR= 1.52), and the use of alcohol (OR= 7.81) were factors associated with prevalence of the use of substances. This study showed the low prevalence of substance abuse, and determined some of its risk factors among students. This study may be supportive of interventions that target multiple behaviors. The findings of this study is important for public health officials however, more studies are necessary to generalize the findings.