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Abstract
Background: The intentions to use addictive substances among early adolescents residing in geographic areas characterised by severe drug abuse remain poorly understood due to a lack of sufficient research attention.
Methods: We assessed participants (N = 217) in grades 5 and 6 in Yunlin County, where severe drug abuse is common. Self-reported data were acquired via questionnaires.
Results: Only perceived behavioural control was found to have an effect on addictive substance use intentions. The subject norms and attitude behaviours concerning addictive substances had small, but positive effects, on perceived behavioural control.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that, in high-drug abuse areas, prevention programmes aimed at early adolescents should focus on improving perceived behavioural control. Such interventions may increase adolescents’ likelihood of refraining from drug use while decreasing drug exposure channels.
Declaration of interest
We have no personal or financial conflicts of interest to declare. We have not entered into any agreement that could interfere with our access to the research data or our ability to analyse the data, prepare the article, or publish it. The current research was supported by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA: 97014).
All authors read and approved the final article. H. Y.-P. drafted the article. H. Y.-C. and H. Y.-P. participated in the article preparation and study design. H. C.-S., L. S.-M., and G. M.-J. conducted the statistical analysis. L. S.-J. and H. C.-S. conducted literature searches and gave advice on the work.