The mental health and substance abuse among youths aged 18 to 29: A comparative study

INTRODUCTION: Drug abuse, as a social phenomenon, is one of the health problems of the present era. Inclination to drug abuse like other social phenomena is complex and multi-causal. Emphasizing on the psychological factors, the present study attempts to compare the amount of depression, anxiety and stress between drug abusers and the comparison group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research method is descriptive-analytic and its design is comparative. The population includes the youths of ages of 18-29 (with and without drug abuse behavior). The sampling is random and the sample size in drug abuser group is 183 and in the comparison group, it is 207 persons. The data collection instrument is questionnaire of personal information containing 6 questions and the standard questionnaire is DASS-21. The data were analyzed through SPSS-18 and statistic tests independent T, chi square, Mann-Whitney, and logistic regression analysis. FINDINGS: The average age of the drug abusers is 25.9 ± 2.96 years and the comparison group is 24.2 ± 3.36. The most amount of methamphetamine is 75.9%. A significant correlation was observed between the education level and drug abuse behavior (P < 0.001). The score of the stress, anxiety and stress in drug abusers is more than the comparison group and this relationship was significant (P < 0.001). Based on the logistic regression analysis results, anxiety has the highest correlation with drug abuse behavior. CONCLUSION: The low level of education is an effective factor in drug abuse. According to the strong correlation between psychological factors and drug abuse behavior, it is necessary to suggest social plans of prevention and treatment of mental disorders.