Abstract: Substance abuse is an international generic term for drug use behavior. The generation of drug abuse behavior is influenced by many factors such as complex physiological - psychological - environment. Knowing the serious harm and adverse effects of drug abuse, some people still choose to use drugs, and this behavior is further spread through social and environmental mechanisms. In order to understand the psychological decision - making process of drug abusers and the social transmission mechanism of drug abuse behavior, foreign scholars have conducted a lot of research, and established a series of theoretical models. In this paper we mainly review a large number of foreign studies on the psychological decision - making theory and model of drug abuse, the social transmission mechanism of drug abuse behavior from the perspective of social infection, and the expansion direction of the future development of drug abuse research for providing theoretical reference to related research on drug abuse in China.