Social background and attitudes towards drugs as predictors of drug use among Malaysian students

Those Malaysian secondary schoolchildren who have ever used an illicit drug do not differ significantly in terms of social class background, ethnicity or rural/urban location, from the majority of their contemporaries who have not used drugs. The cross-sectional data show a rapid secular trend towards the sexes being equally involved in drug use. Significant differences between ever and never users are, however, found in their attitudes towards drug taking and their beliefs about the properties of drugs, although both groups share the same rather negative image of the typical drug user. Thus, drug users have accepted some of the attitudes towards drug issues which are normative in the non-user group, whilst developing other attitudes which are consistent with their continuing use. It is argued that adolescent drug abuse in Malaysia is not to be linked specifically with social deprivation, but should be seen as being part of the life style of particular groups in all strata of society.