Relationship Between Implicit Attitude Towards Drugs And Explicit, Implicit Self-esteem Of Drug Addicts

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between implicit attitude towards drugs and self-esteem (explicit and implicit) of drug addicts.Methods206 drug addicts and 120 nomal controls were administered Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and Implicit Association Test (IAT).Results1. The average age of drug addicts was 32.2±6.5 years old. The education level of 95.6% of drug addicts was high school and below, while the annual household income of 69.0% of drug addicts was fifty thousand yuan and below.2. The age for the first time to use drugs in drug addicts group was 24.8±6.8 years old. The types for the first time to use drugs in drug addicts group were mainly ’ice’of 80 cases (38.8%) and ’heroin’ of 71 cases (38.8%). The reasons for the first time to use drugs in drug addicts group were mainly’seduced or abetted by others’ of 71 cases (34.5%) and’curiosity’of 52 cases (25.2%). The first way to get drugs was mainly’given by others’ of 130 cases (63.1%) and ’let others buy it’ of 48 cases (23.3%). The frequently used types of drugs were ’ice’ of 158 cases (76.7%) and ’heroin’ of 63 cases (30.6%). The age for the first time to undergo compulsive drug rehabilitation was 30.0±8.3 years old. Among 118 cases of drug addicts that uderwent compulsive drug rehabilitation more than once, the time for drug-free of 70.3% of them was 3 months and below.3. The implicit attitudes of both drug addicts and normal controls towards drugs were negative, while the attitude intensity of drug addicts was significantly lower than that of normal controls. The level of drug addicts’ explicit self-esteem was significantly lower than that of normal controls’, while there was no significantly difference between implicit self-esteem of drug addicts and that of normal controls. In the drug addicts group, there was a positive correlation between the implicit attitude towards drugs and the implicit self-esteem (r=0.188), while there was no significantly correlation between the implicit attitude towards drugs and the explicit self-esteem.ConclusionDrug addicts have a lower intensity of negative implicit attitude towards drugs than general people, and drug addicts have lower level of explicit self-esteem than general people. For drug addicts, the implicit attitude towards drugs. The reason for most of the drug addicts to use drugs for the first time was seduced by others or for the curiosity. The first way to get drugs was mainly through others. After drug rehabilitation, the rate of relapses is high.