title: Cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drug abuse is one of the most serious social problems in many countries. College students, particularly at their first year of education, are considered as one of the at risk groups for drug abuse. The present study aimed to determine cognitive factors related to drug abuse among a sample of Iranian male medical college students based on the social cognitive theory (SCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was carried out on 425 Iranian male medical college students who were randomly selected to participate voluntarily in the study. The participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by the SPSS software (ver. 21.0) using bivariate correlations, logistic and linear regression at 95% significant level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Attitude, outcome expectation, outcome expectancies, subjective norms, and self-control were cognitive factors that accounted for 49% of the variation in the outcome measure of the intention to abuse drugs.  Logistic regression showed that attitude (OR=1.062), outcome expectancies (OR=1.115), and subjective norms (OR=1.269) were the most influential predictors for drug abuse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that designing and implementation of educational programs may be useful to increase negative attitude, outcome expectancies, and subjective norms towards drug abuse for college students in order to prevent drug abuse.
authors.affiliation: Assistant professor,Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Abadan College of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Ahvaz, Iran AND kermanshah university of medical sciences, kermanshah,iran. mmahboubi@kums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jalilian
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ataee
authors.forename: Behzad Karami
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Matin
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmadpanah
authors.forename: Touraj Ahmadi
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Jouybari
authors.forename: Ahmad Ali
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Eslami
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahboubi
authors.forename: Mehdi Mirzaei
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Alavijeh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult