The Mediating Role of Family Cohesion in the Relationship Between Attitude Towards Drug Addiction and Personal Empowerment in Iranian College Students

Drug addiction has become one of the big problems in societies, and its prevention is one of the main plans of countries worldwide. This study aims to assess the mediating role of family cohesion in the relationship between attitude towards drug addiction and personal empowerment in Iranian college students.

This is a correlational study using structural equation modeling. The study population includes all undergraduate students of the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in the academic year 2022-2023, of whom 200 were selected using a convenience sampling method. The used tools were the social competence questionnaire of Felner et al. (1990), the attitude towards drugs questionnaire of Karimi (2013), and the family adaptability and cohesion evaluation scale of Olson (1985). To analyze the collected data, SPSS software, version 23 and LISREL software, version 8.8 were used.

The positive attitude towards drug addiction had a negative and significant relationship with personal empowerment (r=-0.58, P<0.01) and family cohesion (r=-0.55, P<0.01). The negative attitude towards drug addiction had a positive and significant relationship with personal empowerment (r=0.56, P<0.01) and family cohesion (r=0.50, P<0.01). Personal empowerment of students had both direct and indirect effects (through family cohesion) on the attitude towards drug addiction.

To prevent addiction to drugs in young people, there is a need to create a negative attitude towards drugs in them by increasing their personal empowerment and family cohesion.