Synthetic drug use and associations of theory of planned behavior and social learning theory with synthetic drug use intention among secondary vocational school students

Objective To investigate the prevalence and intention of synthetic drug use among secondary vocational school students and to explore associations of theory of planned behavior(TPB) and social learning theory(SLT) with synthetic drug use and its intention.Methods A total of 2032 students from three secondary vocational schools in Wuhan city were recruited using adjustment sampling and asked to answer a questionnaire anonymously between November and October 2013.Results The prevalence rates of synthetic drug use and its intention were 1.82% and 4.77%.Multivariate analyses showed that the influencing factors of synthetic drug use were high refusal skill(odds ratioOR=0.873), anti-drug use attitude(OR=0.873), parents' disapproval of synthetic drug use(OR=0.058), easy availability of drugs(OR=6.683), the proportion of drug use less than 50% among friends(OR=4.860), the proportion of drug use greater than 50% among friends(OR=12.113), and the proportion of synthetic drug use less than 50% among family members(OR=3.537).The determinants of synthetic drug use intention were high refusal skills(OR=0.928), anti-drug use attitude(OR=0.914), disapproval of synthetic drug use in peers(OR=0.468), the proportion of drug use less than 50% among friends(OR=2.296), the proportion drug use greater than 50% among friends(OR=3.147), and the proportion of synthetic drug use less than 50% among family members(OR=2.643).Conclusion The prevalence of synthetic drug use and its intention were at a general level and TPB and SLT play important roles in synthetic drug use and its intention, but the roles were not independent among secondary vocational students.