Abstract

PEREIRA, Vanessa  and  DIAS, Paulo C.. Attitudes and cannabis use in students of general and vocational education. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2018, vol.19, n.3, pp.535-549. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/18psd190306.

Cannabis use is one of the most prominent risk behaviors in adolescence in recent years. Cannabis has been expanding and gaining prominence in youth culture in the face of a permissive social norm and more favorable attitudes towards its use. Given the increasing prevalence and the early implications of this use, this study intends to understand the relationship between attitudes and cannabis use, in a sample of 164 students from general and vocational education. For this, a sociodemographic questionnaire, a questionnaire about the consumption experience, the Cannabis Use Intention Questionnaire and the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test were used. There were statistically significant differences in cannabis use (problematic/risk and prevalence) and attitudes toward cannabis (attitude, subjective norm, perceived self-efficacy and intention), according to gender, age and school level. Older male students, with greater absenteeism and school failure, with higher vocational education, tend to have a larger and more problematic use of cannabis and present overall more favorable attitudes. The more favorable are attitudes towards use, the bigger is the use. This study reinforces the need to promote personal and social skills, early and continuously, and to develop programs of targeted and selective prevention, focused on attitudes and meaning, in the school context.

Keywords : cannabis; use; attitudes; education path.

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