Alienation, group dependency and reasons for abstinence among female college student marijuana users and nonusers

Date

8/30/1973

Authors

Bledsoe, Pamela

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Abstract

The present study compared marijuana users and nonusers with regard to demographic and personality variables, including alienation and group dependency. The nonusers' reasons for abstaining from marijuana were also investigated. The subjects were 316 students enrolled at Texas Woman's University. A three-part questionnaire eliciting background information and drug data, and containing Dean's Alienation Scale and the Q2 Scale from the Sixteen Personality Factor Test, was administered to the subjects. Marijuana users were characterized as being more likely to live with their parents, to participate in protests and demonstrations, to feel bored and depressed frequently, to have parents who smoke cigarettes frequently, to smoke cigarettes and drink alcoholic beverages frequently themselves, to use drugs for nonmedical reasons, to obtain their drug information from friends, and to have more friends who also smoke marijuana. Results indicated that nonusers abstained from marijuana because: (a) they believed that they did not need marijuana in order to enjoy life, (b) they did not want to live a life distorted by the use of marijuana, and (c) they did not believe that marijuana would solve their problems. Marijuana users were more likely to be alienated than nonusers. Users and nonusers were not significantly different with regard to group dependency; however, principled nonusers were found to be more group dependent than users.

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