Decision-Making Styles and Attitude Towards Substances: Predictors of Potential Addiction in Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: In all societies, adolescents are the most vulnerable age group to addiction.\rDecision-making styles and attitude toward substances can play an important role in the\rtendency of adolescents to addiction.\rThe aim of the current study was to investigate the role of decision-making styles and attitude\rtoward substances in predicting the potential addiction among adolescents.\rMethods: In this descriptive study, a total of 546 adolescents participated from different high\rschools in Lorestan Province, Iran that were selected through multiple cluster sampling method.\rThe participants were asked to complete different questionnaires of demographic characteristics,\rdecision-making styles, attitude toward substance, and potential addiction. The obtained data\rwere analyzed through SPSS 16. The Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis\rwere used for determining the relationships between the study variables.\rResults: The results of the study indicated that general attitude; beliefs; emotions; readiness for\raction; avoidant, spontaneous and dependent decision-making styles have significant positive\rcorrelations with potential addiction. While potential addiction is correlated negatively with\rrational and intuitive decision-making styles. Also, the results of regression analysis showed\rthat potential addiction is predictable by the components of the decision-making styles and\rattitude toward substances. Multiple regression analysis indicated that components of the\rdecision-making styles and attitude toward substances significantly predicted 25.1% and\r20.7% of the variance of potential addiction, respectively.\rConclusion: The results of this study showed that decision-making styles and attitude toward\rsubstance can explain a high degree of variability to potential addiction among adolescents.\rAccordingly, teaching rational decision-making style and negative attitudes to substances may\rlead to improvements in the prevention and treatment of addiction in adolescents.