The Relationship between Attitude towards Conflict & Drug Involvement Attitudes

Institute for School Improvement, Missouri State University. 901 South National Avenue, Springfield, MO 65897. Tel: 417-836-8854; Fax: 417-836-8881; Web site: http://www.isi.missouristate.edu

Y

15

Practitioners

Prevention; Adolescent Attitudes; Conflict; Drinking; Measures (Individuals); Grade 12; Alcohol Abuse; Drug Abuse; Student Behavior; At Risk Students; Correlation; Personality Traits; Grade 6; Grade 8; Grade 10; Secondary School Students; Predictor Variables; Peer Influence; Racial Differences; Age Differences

1937-0814

Despite the success of many drug and alcohol prevention programs, drug and alcohol use by adolescents continues to be a problem. One important factor in preventing drug and alcohol use may be determining, in a non-intrusive manner, which students are most at risk for drug involvement. In the present study, the predictive relationship between adolescent attitudes towards conflict and their attitudes toward drug and alcohol involvement were examined using The Communities that Care Survey (CTC), based on the Hawkins, Catalano & Miller (1992) model of risk and protective factors. Although several items ask about reactions to conflict, the construct of attitude towards conflict has not previously been thoroughly examined in terms of its potentially predictive relationship with drug involvement. Five years of CTC data were collected from 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th graders (n = 11,419) in a medium-sized Midwestern town. A Conflict Attitudes Scale and a Drug Attitudes Index were created from CTC items. Regression results indicate that the Conflict Attitude Scale scores were predictive of Drug Attitude Index scores. The findings suggest that professionals working with middle grade students may consider utilizing assessments of attitudes toward conflict to predict adolescent risk for drug involvement. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

As Provided

20

2009

EJ832308