title: The Effects of Low Self-Control and Delinquent Peers on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use in a Sample of Saudi Arabian Youth.
abstract: A considerable amount of research has examined patterns of substance use and the potential explanations of it among samples from the United States and other industrialized nations. To date, however, no research has explored these issues in a sample of Saudi Arabian youth. The current study addressed this gap in the literature and examined the lifetime use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among Saudi Arabian youth. We also examined whether key measures from social learning theory and low self-control theory were able to account for patterns of usage. Data drawn from a sample of nearly 500 youth residing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were used. Analysis of the data revealed that 12.7% of youth had smoked cigarettes at least 1 time, 2.6% had consumed alcohol at least once, and 3.0% had used illegal drugs. Moreover, the results of rare-events logistic regression revealed that a measure of delinquent peers was the strongest and most consistent predictor of substance use, while a measure of low self-control was unrelated (or related in a direction opposite to that which was predicted) to the measures of substance use.
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia kbeaver@fsu.edu.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Beaver
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammed Said
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Al-Ghamdi
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmed Nezar
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Kobeisy
authors.affiliation: King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Fathiyah H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Alqurashi
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska Omaha, Lincoln, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, Abington, USA.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gajos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D000068356:Self-Control; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Saudi Arabia; delinquent peers; drugs; self-control; substance use; youth