Prevalence and factors associated with drug abuse among high school students in Semnan

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with drug abuse among high school students of Semnan. To this end, 400 male and female high school students using stratified sampling were selected to participate in this study. Demographic questionnaire and mental health scales (28-GHQ) and the scale of causes of drug abuse among young people were used as research instrument. The results revealed that 7.8% of the sample (31 students) had at least once experienced drug abuse of whom 26 were male and five were female. There was a significant relationship between some of the sub-scale's of attitudes towards drugs and their use. There was a significant relationship between all sub-measures of mental health and substance abuse. However, the findings of Logistic regression showed that only gender, physical symptoms, social dysfunction and depression were useful in the model and can be considered as predictors of drug abuse.