Psychosocial determinants of ecstasy use in young people in the UK

Conner, Mark; Sherlock, Kellie; Orbell, Sheina

doi:10.1111/j.2044-8287.1998.tb00576.x

Cited by 54 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…In line with the findings of Conner et al (1998), five of the belief measures were found to differentiate ecstasy users from non-users (number of friends using ecstasy, the beliefs that using ecstasy is immoral, difficult to resist, guilt inducing, and that ecstasy is readily available). Having friends that use ecstasy is associated with increased odds of using ecstasy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

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Expanding the traditional user versus non‐user dichotomy amongst ecstasy users

McMillan

Sherlock

Conner

2003

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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Differences in the drug use characteristics and psychosocial variables in the use and non-use of ecstasy within 845 16-25 year-olds in the UK was examined. Based on levels of ecstasy use and intentions, two groups of non-users (resistant and vulnerable), three groups of users (light, moderate and heavy) and an ex-user group were identified. It was found that there is predictive utility in this way of expanding the widely employed 'user versus non-user' dichotomy. Resistant non-users were more likely to be younger, female, and were characterized by lower levels of use of four other drugs (amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and LSD). Those 'at risk' of using ecstasy reported more frequent use of amphetamine, LSD, and cannabis than resistant non-users. Heavy user groups reported using amphetamine, cocaine and LSD more frequently than all the other groups. Having ecstasy using friends increased the odds of being an 'at risk' non-user or an ecstasy user. Normative influence also differentiated between the three user groups (light, moderate, and heavy). Beliefs about ecstasy use being immoral, ecstasy offers being difficult to resist, ecstasy use making one feel guilty and ecstasy being readily available differentiated between user and non-user groups. These factors could usefully inform the content of health education materials designed to change ecstasy use.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Conner, Sherlock, & Orbell, 1998;McMillan & Conner, in press;Orbell, Blair, Sherlock, & Conner, 2001). However, these studies have tended to focus on simply distinguishing user and non-user groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Expanding the traditional user versus non‐user dichotomy amongst ecstasy users

McMillan

Sherlock

Conner

2003

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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“…An exception was the construct of subjective norms, which was assessed through three items (e.g., ''Others who are important to me approve of me doing active sports and/or vigorous physical activities for at least 30 minutes, 3 days per week, during my leisure-time, over the next 5 weeks''). Descriptive norms were assessed through two items on 7-point scales ranging from ''completely false'' (1) to ''completely true'' (7) (e.g., ''Most people who are important to me will do active sports and/or vigorous physical activities for at least 30 minutes, 3 days per week, during their leisure-time, over the next 5 weeks'') (Conner & Sherlock, 1998). Perceived social support was assessed through two items on 7-point Likert scales ranging from ''strongly disagree'' (1) to ''strongly agree'' (7) (e.g., ''Others who are important to me assist me to do active sports and/or vigorous physical activities for at least 30 minutes, 3 days per week during my leisure-time, over the next 5 weeks'') (Courneya et al, 2000;Povey et al, 2000).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of perceived autonomy support on physical activity within the theory of planned behavior

Chatzisarantis

Hagger

Smith

2007

Euro J Social Psych

104

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Three studies tested the contribution of perceived autonomy support to the prediction of health-related intentions within the theory of planned behavior. Perceived autonomy support refers to the extent to which individuals perceive that significant others encourage choice and participation in decisionmaking, provide a meaningful rationale, minimize pressure, and acknowledge the individual's feelings and perspectives. Findings from Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that perceived autonomy support predicted intentions to participate in physical activity behavior directly and indirectly via attitudes. Perceived autonomy support predicted intention even after statistically controlling for the effects from past behavior, descriptive norms, and perceived social support. Study 3 found that persuasive communications influenced perceptions of autonomy support, attitudes, and intentions. Overall, the findings support the incorporation of perceived autonomy support into the theory of planned behavior. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Despite the considerable amount of research aimed at understanding the low levels of adherence to health behaviors, social psychologists confess to having limited knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for compliance (Haynes, McDonald, Garg, & Montague, 2003). Thus, there is still a need for theoretically guided research that furthers researchers' and practitioners' grasp of the nature of adherence to health behaviors. The theory of planned behavior is a social cognitive model of decision-making that provides a useful framework for predicting and explaining health behavior (Ajzen, 1991). THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIORAccording to the theory of planned behavior, optimal prediction of behavior can be attained from a person's intention, which is an indicator of how hard people are willing to try, and how much effort European Journal of Social Psychology Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 37, 934-954 (2007) people plan to exert toward performance of behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Intention is in turn function of attitudes (a person's positive or negative evaluation of performing the behavior), subjective norms (an individual's belief that significant others may exert pressure on them to execute the behavior), and perceived behavioral control (the extent to which people believe that they can control performance of social behavior). According to Ajzen, the construct of perceived behavioral control can also predict behavior directly when behavior is not under complete volitional control and when perceived behavioral control is accurate in a sense that it reflects actual control. Assumptions underlying the theory of planned behavior have been corroborated by numerous meta-analytic reviews across a number of different social behaviors (Armitage & Conner, 2001) and health behaviors (Hagger, Chatzisarantis, & Biddle, 2002). Indeed, tests of the theory of planned behavior have provided strong evidence for the overall predictive validity of intentions, and have shown that attitudes and perceived behavioral contr...

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“…Attitudinal ambivalence reduces both the temporal stability of the attitude (Conner, Sherlock, & Orbell, 1998) and its influence on behavioral intention and on the behavior itself (Conner, Sparks, Povey, James, & Shepherd, 1998). Drinking is clearly a behavior about which it is difficult to make predictions solely from attitudinal models such as that of the TPB, and further work in the field is necessary to try to overcome this shortcoming.…”

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confidence: 99%

Emotional Ambivalence in Risk Behaviors: The Case of Occasional Excessive Use of Alcohol

et al. 2007

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The purpose of this paper is to study the differential and complementary role played by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables and by participants' emotions when recalling and describing previous experiences of such risk behavior in the prediction of the intention to repeat a risk behavior in the immediate future. We chose the behavior of occasional excessive drinking, a risk behavior characterized by evoking attitudinal ambivalence and eliciting mixed emotions, joy and sadness. The results show that emotional ambivalence is not equivalent to attitudinal ambivalence (whose indexes include that of the affective component), and that this emotional information is relevant for predicting the intention to repeat the risk behavior in the near future, enhancing the prediction of the TPB model. Keywords: attitudinal ambivalence, emotional ambivalence, mixed emotions, risk behaviorEn este trabajo estudiamos el papel diferencial y complementario que juegan las emociones sentidas cuando se recuerda y describe una experiencia personal pasada en la conducta de riesgo junto con las variables clásicas de la teoría de la conducta planificada en la predicción de la intención de repetir dicha conducta de riesgo en un futuro cercano. Hemos elegido la conducta de beber puntualmente alcohol en exceso, una conducta caracterizada por evocar actitudes ambivalentes y emociones mixtas (alegría y tristeza). Los resultados muestran que la ambivalencia emocional no es equivalente a la ambivalencia actitudinal (cuyos índices incluyen la ambivalencia del componente afectivo de las actitudes), y que esta información emocional es un factor relevante para predecir mejor la intención de repetir la conducta de riesgo en el futuro cercano. Palabras clave: ambivalencia actitudinal, ambivalencia emocional, emociones mixtas, conducta de riesgo

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Psychosocial determinants of ecstasy use in young people in the UK

Cited by 54 publications

References 20 publications

Expanding the traditional user versus non‐user dichotomy amongst ecstasy users

Expanding the traditional user versus non‐user dichotomy amongst ecstasy users

Influences of perceived autonomy support on physical activity within the theory of planned behavior

Emotional Ambivalence in Risk Behaviors: The Case of Occasional Excessive Use of Alcohol

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