Study of Vulnerability to Addiction With Regard to Self-Efficacy and Alexithymia in High School Students

Objective: We aimed to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and alexithymia with vulnerability to drug abuse among students. Methods: The study method was descriptive and correlational. In this study, 483 male high-school students from Salmas City, Iran were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. All participants completed the Toronto alexithymia scale, general self-efficacy scale, a questionnaire to identify people at risk of addiction. The obtained data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation and simultaneous regression analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20. Results: Based on the study findings, self-efficacy has the greatest ability to predict vulnerability to addiction. Next comes alexithymia which positively predicts vulnerability to addiction. Conclusion: The present study showed that low self-efficacy and failure to understand and express emotions can play important roles in the tendency of young people to drug addiction. Accordingly, clinicians can prevent the tendency of young people to addiction with improving the self-efficacy and enhancing the ability of individuals to control the emotions.