Area Specific Self-Esteem, Values, and Adolescent Substance Use

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Nutrition Exercise and Health Sciences

Publication Date

3-19-2009

Abstract

The use of illicit and licit drugs continues to be a major public health concern. Many prevention and drug education programs address this issue by attempting to enhance self-esteem. The idea is that increased levels of self-esteem will serve as a protective factor in decreasing the motivation and increasing the resistance to use drugs. This study explored the relationship between area specific self-esteem and adolescent substance use. Participants (n = 700) completed a self-report questionnaire which included items measuring the use and expected use of selected substances. Results indicated significant differences in home and school self-esteem scores between users/expected users and non-users of a given substance for all 14 behavioral measures. Additionally, the peer, home, and school sub-scales as a set were found to distinguish between users and non-users for all 14 behavioral measures. Results should be of value to those designing prevention programming.

Comments

This article was originally published in Journal of Drug Education. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Journal of Drug Education

Rights

© 2008, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

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