Supervisors info:
Αθανάσιος Δουζένης, Καθηγητής ,Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Μιχόπουλος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Παναγιώτης Φερεντίνος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητης, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: Sense of coherence has been referred to as the generalized emotional-cognitive perception that a person has of stimuli in the environment. It is associated with a wide variety of general health and wellness indicators. People with stronger sense of coherence have a greater ability to deal with stressors in a healthy way.
Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation of sense of coherence with the age of onset of drug use as well as the coexistence of delinquent behavior and the age of onset.
Methodology: The present study is a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of 99 substance abusers who attended a substitution treatment program at the Integrated Addiction Treatment Unit of OKANA. The sense of coherence was measured with the sense of coherence scale (SOC), which consists of 29 questions with 3 subcategories:
(1) Comprehensibility (11 questions): The degree to which the social world is interpreted as rational, comprehensible, structured, classified, and predictable, a dimension that refers to the cognitive ability to control an environment.
(2) Manageability (10 questions): The degree to which individuals feel that resources are personally available to help them adequately address demands, stimuli, or problems.
(3) Meaningfulness (8 questions): The motivational component assesses whether a situation is considered challenging and whether it is worth committing and investing to address it.
Participants were also given a questionnaire to record demographic data (gender, age, educational level and employment status). Also, the age of onset of addictive substances was recorded, if they had ever shown delinquent behavior, if they had ever been charged with possession and trafficking of drugs, damage to foreign property, crimes of violence, violations of High way code and prostitution and the age of onset of delinquent behavior was also recorded. Delinquent behavior was considered any of the above offenses committed by the participants and they were formally arrested and convicted by the authorities.
Results: The study population consisted of 99 people who used addictive substances aged 43.3±7.5 years. In total,only 18 (18.2%) participants were working. The age of onset of drug use was 15.4±2.8 years, while the age of onset of delinquent behavior was 16.9±3.9 years. 96 (97%) participants had committed delinquent behavior, of which 93 (93.9%) participants reported possession and trafficking of drugs, 25 (25.3%) damage to foreign property and 8 (8.1%) crimes of violence. Participants were found to have a moderate level of confidence that they will successfully meet the requirements (35.5±13.1) and that they understand the stimuli of the environment (34.7±11.4) and a low sense that the effort is worth it (25.3±9.1). The total score in the internal composition questionnaire was 95.5±30.8. Although no statistically significant difference was found, women (96.5±26.9 vs. 94.8±33.5, p=0.780), employees (106±32.5 vs. 93.2±30.1, p=0.139) and those who did not have delinquent behavior (100.3±60.1 vs. 95.4±30.1, p=0.899) were found to have a higher score on the internal composition scale. Correlations with the age of onset of substance abuse and delinquent behavior were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The degree of sense of coherence in the present study was not a good indicator for predicting the delinquent behavior of drug users as well as for their age of onset as no correlation was found regarding the research hypotheses of the study, The sample that follows the program substitution patients consisted of patients with extremely low educational level, socially neglected and economically degraded. The use of addictive substances is multifactorial and is not driven solely by resilience or emotional stability. Initiation of substance use, which is a major risk factor in later life including delinquent behavior, may depend more on social factors than individual differences in resilience levels (Behrendt et al., 2009).
Keywords:
Addictive substances, Sense of coherence, Delinquent behavior, Dangerous behaviors, Substance users
