چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background: Drug abuse causes various societal problems, including decline in public
health, increase in mortality, social and domestic traumas, loss of educational and occupational
opportunities, increase in involvement with the judicial system, and development
of drug abuse cycles. The tendency to use drugs is directly related to the attitudes of the
individuals regarding the legality and the scale of social acceptance of drug use, the harm
resulting from drug use, or the pleasant consequences of using drugs.
Objectives: The aim of the present study is to predict the psychological inclination to drug
use in youths by studying their personality traits.
Patients and Methods: The research sample included students of the Medical Science
University, Zahedan, Iran, with an average age of 19–24 years. Participants were selected by
probability proportional cluster random sampling. The instruments were the Addiction
Potential Scale (APS) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The hypotheses
were tested using the Pearson correlation method and regression analysis.
Results: Addiction potential was positively related to personality characteristics. We found
that those with the highest addiction potential (47%) exhibited the following 3 traits: characteristics
of schizophrenia, psychological exhaustion, and depression.
Conclusions: There were no significant differences in the addiction potential among the
students with respect to grade, field of study, age, or gender