8342937131

A COMPARATIYE STI DY ON SEI.F ESTF.EM BETWEEN MAI AY MAŁE DRUG AND NON-DRUG USERS

There were iwo sets of questionnaires: Set I [ was administered to the drug users (case group) n| whereasSet II was for the non-drug users (control i] group). Set I questionnaire was basically the c same as that of Set II except for the inclusion ofa i few additional questions for the former. Set - I consisted of four sections which included J demographic Information,exposure toillicitdrugs, 9 drug experimentation and the Coopersmith

ISelf-Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith 1967). SetII consisted of three sections namely, demographic information, exposure to illicit drugs, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Both setsof questionnaires were pretested in the study areas.

Tłu- actual study was conducted in theGovern-f ment Rehabilitation Centres for a period of 3 monthscommencing in early Decem ber, 1987 and j ending in late February, 1988. For the control group, the study was completed within the month i ofMarch, 1988.

Instrument

This study invo!ved the measurementof personality. The aspect of personality examined was in the dirnension ofself-esteem which was measured using the “Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory" instrument (Coopersmith 1967). Thelevelofself-esteem measured was based on the perception of

I the respondent towards himself. For the case group, the level ofself-esteem was the level before the drug user Firstexperimented with drugs while the level ofself-esteem measured for the control group was the Ievel during the period beginningin early adolescence (12 years) until the time of the inierview. Thedifferencein periodsduringwhich self-esteem was measured was related to the focusof the study on adolescentsand alsototheobjectiveof the study which was toexamine the self-esteem of drug users and non drug users before any of the subjects wereengaged in drug use. Thus, the level of self-esteem of the drug user was measured before the initiation of drug use.

The Coopersmith Self-Esteem lnventory instrument consisted of 50 items/statements which were categorized into four areas. These areas included peers (8 statements), parents (8 state-ments),school (8statements),andpersonalinter-ests (26statements). These itemswereconstructed in the form of statements as they related to the indiyidual self. If a respondent felt that a certain statement described himself, then hewould have to mark an “X" under the column “LIKE ME". Likewise, the respondent would have to mark

an “X” in the column “UNUKE ME” if he felt that the particular statement did not describe himself. For positive statements, an “X” in the “LIKE ME” column carried 2 points and an “X" in the “UN-L1KE ME” column carried 1 point each. The reverse was true for negative statements, where an “X” in the “LIKE ME” column carried 1 point whereasan “X” in the “I NLIKE ME.” column carried 2 points each. The highest possible score for this instrument was 100 points. Respondents who scored 50 or less points were categorized in the Iow self-esteem group, whereas those who scored 51 and above were included in the high self-esteem

group.

rhis instrument had been used widely by variousinvestigatorssuchasBennet etal. (1971), Burns (1979).Coopersmith (1967),Schaefer etal. (1976), and Simon (1972). Bennet et ai (1971), for example, utilized the instrument to mea-sure self-esteem among adult prisoners. Schaefer et ai (1976) employed the instrument in examining the relationship between self-esteem and drug use behaviour among university stu-dents.

A test-retest reliabilityofthe instrument at two time points 5 weeksapart was conducted by Burns (1979) resulting in a correlation of 0.88 for a sample of 30 respondents. Spatz and Johnson (1973) reporteda test-retest reliabilitycorrelation of 0.70 for a sample of 56 respondents at two time points, 3yearsapart. For this study, the test-retest reliability at time points 4 weeks apart on a sub-sample of 10 drug users interviewed during tlie pretesting period and later reintemewed in the actual study resulted in a correlation of 0.85.

DataAnalysis

Data were processed and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Computer programme. Among the statistical tests conducted were the mean, frequency distribution, and t-test.

RESULTS ANI) DISCUSSION

Based on the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory instrument used in thisstudy. 89.1 % of drug users were found to possess Iow self-esteem, and 10.9% of the drug users possessed high self-esteem. For the non-drug users, the figures were 35.0% and 65.0% respectively (Table 1).

This finding clearly asserted an association between self-esteem and the deve!opment of initial drug use behaviour. Possession of Iow self-esteem was an attribute of a majority of the drug users

89

PERTANIKA VOL 14 NO.l. 1991