Relationship between anger and drug addiction potential as factors affecting the health of medical students

BACKGROUND: One of the psychobehavioral factors that can predict drug abuse in students is anger. This study aimed to evaluate the association between anger and drug addiction potential in medical students in Iran in relation to their gender and college. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 373 students of five colleges at Lorestan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. For collecting data, Persian versions of state-trait anger expression inventory-2 and addiction potential scale were employed. Data were analyzed in SPSS software using t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation test. RESULTS: There was a significant positive relationship between subjective components of anger (sate anger, trait anger, anger expression-out, and anger expression-in) and addiction potential in samples (P < 0.05), while anger regulation components (anger control-in and anger control-out) had significant negative correlation with addiction potential (P < 0.05). Moreover, a significant difference was found in mean addiction potential scores between samples based on gender and college. With respect to mean anger scores, the difference between students based on gender was significant only in terms of state anger and anger expression-in, while we found no significant difference between them based on college except in anger expression-out (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Subjective components of anger can predict drug addiction potential in medical students. It is recommended that anger management programs should be provided to the medical students as one of the most important community groups in the field of public health.