Five studies were conducted, employing three independent samples of high school students, leading to the development and assessment of the reliability and validity of a Drug Attitudes Scales. The results of these studies support the conclusions that this scale shows substantial reliability and validity, and promises considerable utility in drug treatment and education research. The Drug Attitudes Scale consists of 60 attitude items dealing with drugs and drug use, and is comprised of 10 six-item subscales referring to tranquilizers, barbiturates, heroin, opiates other than heroin, "speed," alcohol, cannabis, hallucinogens, tobacco, and general drug use.
A working outline is provided of the "randomized response model" which offers an alternative indirect procedure for obtaining estimates of drug use. Evidence obtained from an experimental study demonstrated significant underreporting of drug use when estimates were obtained by standard direct methods of inquiry when compared to those obtained by randomized response technique.
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