Premium
Swiss Adolescent Drug Users' and Nonusers' Optimism About Their Future 1
Author(s) -
Schmid Holger
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01351.x
Subject(s) - optimism , feeling , psychology , harm , clinical psychology , logistic regression , drug , social psychology , psychiatry , medicine
Swiss adolescents, aged 16 to 17 years, were asked about their past drug use, their intended drug use, their optimism about their future health, their negative emotions, and their well‐being. On the basis of their self‐reports, they were divided into 3 types of drug users: nonusers, experimenters, and frequent users. Compared with nonusers, experimenters and frequent users reported low optimism and more negative feelings. Females reported more negative feelings and less psychological well‐being than did males, but the genders did not differ regarding optimism. Logistic regression demonstrated that optimism about future health was a protective factor for the intention to use drugs. Students who perceived themselves as less vulnerable to harm had in the past not used drugs and intended not to accept drugs when given the occasion. The implications of the findings for prevention of drug use are discussed.