application of the theory of planned behavior to predict drug abuse related behaviors

Introduction: drug abuse among adolescents potentially holds several negative consequences for the health and well-being of the youth. this theoretically based study explained predictability of the theory of planned behavior (tpb) on drug abuse related behaviors among adolescents. methods: this descriptive study was conducted in yazd city, iran, in 2015 among 125 male adolescents in the age range of 11 - 29 years, recruited randomly. all data gathered by using self-report written questionnaires included attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention not to use drugs as theoretical constructs of tpb, and drug abuse related behaviors. results: the results showed that 18 % of participants were smoker, 97 % of them did not have history of synthetic drug abuse by parents, and 6 % of participants reported synthetic drug abuse by friends. results of chi-square test showed that there was a significant relationship between smoking and father's education, family size, history of synthetic drugs in parents, history of synthetic drugs in friends, and participants' job (p ˃ 0.000). however, maternal education (p = 682) and living with parents (p = 729) did not have any significant relationship. conclusions: the low prevalence of drug abuse in this study in comparison with the existing statistics can attribute to lack of participants' reports.