Influence of Social Factors on Drug Use Behavior in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Drug use is one of the most important social problem having very bad implications for family and society. Therefore the study was designed to investigate the prospective relationship between various socio factors and drug use behavior. The study is based on 500 male drug users and data was collected from five Government Model and rehabilitation centers that were situated at Civil Hospital Faisalabad, Mayo Hospital Lahore, Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur, Nishtar Hospital Multan and General Hospital Rawalpindi. A proportionate sample of 500 respondents was interviewed randomly from among the lists of addicts available in these centers. Bivariate results indicate that peer pressure affected 26.30%, loneliness 46.03% and parental coldness 16.35% to the addicts and were the major social factors that influence the behavior to become drug addicts. The data thus suggest that an inclination towards drug taking might be embedded in the social matrix itself.