The Roles of Attachment Style, Self-Efficacy, and Impulsivity on the Prediction of Attitudes toward Substance Use in Male Adolescents

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the role of attachment styles, self-efficacy, and impulsivity on the prediction of attitudes toward substance abuse among male adolescents. Participants were 199 male adolescents from Najafabad City, Isfahan province, Iran. A demographic questionnaire, the Attachment Style Measure (ASM), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and the Attitude toward Substance Use Scale (ASUS) were used in this study. Analysis showed that avoidance and ambivalent attachment patterns and impulsiveness were significantly positively correlated with attitudes toward substance use. On the other hand, secure attachment style and self-efficacy were significantly negatively associated with attitudes toward substance use. Findings showed that attachment styles, self-efficacy, and impulsiveness account for 58% of the variance in attitudes toward substance use among these adolescents. This study confirmed the predictive role of attachment styles, self-efficacy, and impulsivity in the prediction of the attitudes toward substance use in male adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment styles
• impulsivity
• self-efficacy
• substance use
• male adolescents

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Maria Mercedes Ovejero Bruna; PhD, Complutense University; Faculty of Psychology, Madrid; Spain, for her copy edition of this paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest in this script. There was no funding source for undertaking this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Isfahan Province Education Office [1397–1398].