The Relationship of Decision-Making Styles and Attributional Styles in Addicted and Non-addicted Men.
BACKGROUND
One of social problems which has affected our society and resulted in problems for different groups of people is drug abuse. This issue indicates a serious psychological, physical and social problem in community. Social skills have positive and successful influences in prevention of substance abuse. This includes the ability to explain events correctly and then appropriate decision making. This study compares decision making styles and attributional styles between addicted and non addicted men to recognize their role in addiction.


METHODS
In this study, 200 addicted and non addicted men were randomly selected. Decision-making style and attributional style questionnaires were used. Data analysis was performed by independent Student's t and Pearson correlation tests.


RESULTS
The study population included 81 addicted and 90 non-addicted men. Addicted and non addicted men were significantly different in rational decision-making style (P < 0.05). Negative relationship was found between rational decision making and optimistic attribution style (r = -0.305, P < 0.01) and direct relationship was found between rational decision making and learned helplessness (r = 0.309, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study showed that addicts are less rational in decision making and addicts that developed learned helplessness were less rational and did not have optimistic attribution style. These issues show that addiction institutions and therapists have to pay attention to cognitive factors for addiction prevention.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, School of Humanity Sciences, Tehran Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Farhad
F
Shaghaghy
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, School of Humanity Sciences, Tehran Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Majid
M
Saffarinia
MSc, Department of Psychology, School of Humanity Sciences, Tehran Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Mohadeseh
M
Iranpoor
MSc, Department of Rehabilitation Administration, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali
A
Soltanynejad
Addiction; Attributional style; Decision making style; Learned helplessness