Designing and Testing a Model of Familial and Individual Factors of Substance Use Tendency in University Students

The aim of this study was to design and test a model of familial (family communication pattern including conversation orientation and conformity orientation, family conflicts and parental religiosity) and individual (self-esteem, self-efficacy and resilience) factors of substance use tendency in students of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.

The present study was descriptive-correlational of structural equation modeling type. The statistical population of this study included all students of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in the academic year 2018-2019. From this population, 347 people were selected by cluster sampling. To collect data, the family communication pattern questionnaire, the family conflict subscale; the questionnaire of parental religiosity, the self-esteem scale, the psychological capital questionnaire, and the addiction acceptance scale were used. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling methods.

Conversation orientation, conformity orientation, family conflicts, self-esteem, and self-efficacy had significant direct effects on substance use tendency, but parental religiosity and resilience did not have any significant direct effects on substance use tendency. Self-esteem mediated the relationships of conversation orientation, conformity orientation, family conflicts, and parental religiosity to substance use tendency. Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between parental religiosity and substance use tendency, but resilience did not mediate these relationships.

In general, the model presented in the research had an acceptable and appropriate fit and can be used as a suitable model in designing and formulating preventive programs for substance use tendency.