Personal, Familial, and Social Factors Contributing to Addiction Relapse, Ahvaz, Iran

Drug addiction is deemed one of the gravest threats to society. The objective of this study was to determine what factors (personal, familial, or social) are correlated with addiction relapse. In this descriptive study, 146 addicts referring to addiction treatment centers in the Iranian city of Ahvaz were selected via purposive and non-randomized sampling. The study tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and SPSS software were used for data analysis. The results showed that 46.1% of the participants aged between 20 and 30 years. All the subjects had at least one attempt at quitting drug abuse. Single individuals comprised 52.9% of the study population. The most significant physical factors were lack of appetite (23.9%), numbness and pins and needles (23.3%), and bone pain (22.4%), while the most significant mental factor was loneliness (44%). Concerning the social factors, association with addicted and misleading friends (35.2%) had the utmost importance. Furthermore, lack of a permanent job (43%) and absence of appropriate family relationships (32%), respectively, constituted the most important factors among the career and familial factors. Our results showed that many personal, familial, and social factors play a role in addiction relapse. The high prevalence of return to addiction necessitates further strategies for the more optimal control of these factors.