San Fernando Valley State College

A COMPARISON OF AT'I'ITUDES OF SELECTED I,{

YOUTHS TOWARDS DRUG ABUSE

A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction

of the requirements for the degree of

:tviaster of Science in Health Science

by

JOAN ]:RIEDENBERG

January, 1971

The the s i s of Joan F r i edenb�r g i s approved :

----conut1i ttee chalrmar1

S an F e rnando Va l ley S tate Co llege

January, 1 971

i i

L I ST OF T.ABLES .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

. . . . . .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • • . . . . . .

ABSTRAC T • . • • •

C HAPTER

I . INTRODUCTION. . .

Statement of the Prob l em .

Limitation of the Study

D e f i nition o f Terms . •

I I . LITERATURE REVI EW . . .

Att itud es About Drug Abu s e . •

. . ' . .

. . .

U s e of the S emant.ic D i f f erentia l .

PAGE

v

v i

v i i

1

3

3

4

5

5

14

App l i c a tion of S emantic D ifferentia l . . 19

Sum_rnary • •

I I I . METHODS •

The Instrument:.

The Target Group . •

. .

Method of S e l e c ting the Groups . •

Ana ly s i s of the Data . •

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSS ION . . .

Chara cteri s ti c s of the Samp l e .

Group ing of Concept s U t i l ized in the Instrument . . • . • . . .

iii

23

24

24

26

27

30

33

33

33

Compo s i te County--Wide Samp l e.

Sub-Groups.

Summary

V. EDUCAT IONAL IMPLICATIONS .

B IBLIOGRAPHY.

APPENDIX.

A

B

c .•

iv

.•

38

4 2

43

49

5 2

54

54

5 5

6 0

LI ST OF TABLES

TABLE

I. Nunilier and Percent Di stribution o f Junior and Senior High School Students G iv i ng S e l ected Re asons for Not U s ing Drugs, By Sex .

I I. Number and Percent Di stribution o f Junior and S enior High S choo l Students G iving S e lected Rea s ons for Us ing Drugs, By Sex .

III. Number and Percent D i stribution o f Responses to S e l ected Attitude Questions by Junior and Sen ior High Scho o l Students, by Drug Use .

IV. D i st.ribution o f Youth According to Aff i l i ation.

V. Age and S ex D i s· t ribution o f the County Wide Sampl e.

VI. Age D i str ibution of Subjects in the Sub-Group s.

VI I. Categories of Conc epts .

VI II.

VIIIA.

IX.

Comparison of Respon s e s o f Compos i· te S amp l e o f Non-School Poverty Area You· th to Three Concepts Under Cha nce o f Invo lvement .

Comparison o f the Re s pons e s o f the County--Wide S amp l e to Four Concepts Under the Characte r i stics of Drug Abuse .

Pro f i l e Ana lys i s Va lue s in Terms o f Categor i e s and Favorable Attitude s to Goals o f Educationa l Program -County-Wi de Compo s ite .

v

PAGE

9

10

11

34

35

36

37

: 40

41

44

TABLE

X.

XI.

Res pons e s of the County-Wiqe S ampl e t o Each o f the Concepts . .

Respons e s o f th e Rancho del Campo and Boys ' Club o f C arlsbad Sub­Groups to Each o f the Concepts.

XI I. Pro f i l e Va lues of th e County-Wide S ample and Sub-Group s Ac cording to th e Category and Concepts.

vi

PAGE

45

47

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I w i sh to expre s s my grat itude to Dr. L. H. G l a s s

and Dr . G.B. Kri shnamurty f o r the ir he lpful gui dance i n

the completion o f the the s i s . The i r ins ight h e lped to

make thi s a mo re me aning ful s·tudy than I h ad env i s ioned.

I am indebted to the Bureau o f Hea lth Education and th e

DEF'Y (Drug Educti(�m for You· th ) program o f t.he S an Diego

C oun·ty Department of Pub l i c Hea l th for a l lowing me to

complete the the s i s during my fie ld training and employment.

I am a l so extreme l y indebted to Mr s . Marion T. Bryan·t 1

As s i stant to the Director o f Pub l i c Hea l th , for her sound

advic e 1 encouragement: 1 and f r iendsh ip. A spec i a l thanks

goes to my husband Dave and our fami l i e s for th e i r patience

and encouragement .

vii

ABSTRAC'I'

The purpo s e of the study was to mea sure the re s ­

pon s e s o f a s elected sample o f non-school San Diego County

youths from pover ty area s to a specia l ly d e s igned s eman­

tic differen tial t e s t about drug abu s e and to compare t�e

re s ponse s of two sub-group s from within this population

to the same t e s t .

The te s t wa s administered to 26 9 non-school poverty

a r ea you th s. The subjects r esided in a variety of lo-

c a·tions within San Diego County and were involved in dif-­

f erent recreational a ffiliations. Two sub-groups, t�e

Boy s ' C lub of C a r l sbad and Rancho d el Campo Honor Camp,

wer e cho s en for comparison of their at·ti tudes.

The s emantic differential te s t wa s d eveloped to

probe for a ttitud e s which migh·t facili·tate or hamper a

drug education program that wa s d evis ed by the Bureau of

Health EducaJci.on, San Diego Coun·ty Heal·th Depar·tment . The

re s pon s e s �ere grouped accor ding to ten concepts which

reflected feeling s abou t the drug abu s er, personal chance s

of drug involvement, and ch aracteris·tic s o f drug abuse .

These respon s e s were rated a s favorable or unfavorable to

the education program .

The s tudy seem s to indicate that the s emantic dif­

ferential t e s t may be helpful in making an educational

viii

diagno sis . Analysis o f the data pinpointed the need to

examine sub-group s o f a samp l e in order to avoid the ma sk­

ing o f important findings. The r es pon s e s from the county­

wide samp l e we re varied and covered a range o f fee lings

and a ttitud e s. By examining r e s pons e s for the two sub­

group s , very dif fe rent kinds o f attitude s wer e obs erved.

More specific information became available to a s sist in

program p l anning. I t became evident th at at l e a st two

typ e s o f e duc ational programs woul d be ne c e s s ary. For

tho s e who a l r eady h e l d f avorab l e attitudes, programs woul d

be needed that reinforce the existing fe e l ing s . Fo r tho s e

who s e attitude s wer e un favorab le, prog rams wou l d b e needed

tha-t wou l d change th e s e attitude s.

Addi-tional information was gained by using the

s emantic dif feren- tia l t e s t. An examination o f th e re s­

_ponses he lped de lineate specific content a r e a s tha t cou l d

be incorporated into e duca tiona l programs.

ix

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The u s e and abu s e of drugs by youths have been

gr eatly publicized within the l a s t f ew year s. Many per sons

feel ·tha t a drug-oriented society has d eve loped in which

s o lu tions to variou s probl ems and f e e lings are too often

s ought through chemica l s . Under the terms of the s ocie ty,

it s eems highly logic a l that if youths have probl ems or

want dif f er ent f e elings, they may.we l l turn to drug s ,

whe ther the u s e b e l e g a l o r i l l egal drugs. Since teenage

is a period of high risk-taking behavior, youths may we l l

turn to the u s e of il l eg a l drug s,

Many programs, sponsored by both voluntary and o f ­

ficia l agencie s and groups have come into exis tence to com­

bat the drug prob l em . General ly , the s e programs are of two

typ e s. One type d ea l s with tho s e who have drug problems.

The o ther type is a pr eventiv e program. I t is hoped that

through such educational ef forti, drug problems can be

either r educ ed or avoided a l together.

For any educ ational program to be tru ly e f f e c tive,

it is nec e s sary to begin whe r e the individua l s are in their

thinking and a ttitude s . Planning c annot be done from a

dista nc e utilizing what might be incorrect a s sumptions of

the viewer. In past y ear s, drug abu s e wa s generally con-

sidered to be a probl em in ghetto area s in particul ar.

S inc e then , the probl em of abus e has been s hown to cut a c ­

c ro s s a l l types of s o c i o-economic s trata and a l l types of

i nd ividua l s and fami l i e s . Relatively l itt l e r e s earch h a s

been attempted t o a s c ert ai n spec ific a l l y how youths them­

s elve s feel about the abu s e of drug s. Many irid ividual s

have speculated a s to why you ths u s e drug s . There have

b e en a few attemp·t s to have you.ths give the i r rea sons for

u s i ng drug s . Sti l l, there i s r elatively l i tt l e information

ava i l ab l e whi ch gives sub s tantial ins ight into what the

youths feel about the abu s e of drugs . The lack of adequate

eva luative instruments may .be r e spon s i b l e for the l imited

i nforma·t ion .

One t echnique that ha s been proven both r e l iabl e and

va l id in mea sur ing attitud e s i s the s emantic d ifferenti a l .

The s emanti c differenti a l mea sur e s the r e s pons e ind ic a ting

meaning or i nterpretat ion of concept s . For the purpo s e of

th i s s tudy , a s emant i c d ifferent i a l wa s deve loped to mea-

sure the a tti tud e s of youth s toward drug abu s e . S ince the

d rug abu s e probl em h a s l ong been a prob l em in ghetto ar e a s ,

t h e Bure au o f Hea l th Education o f the San D i ego County

Health D epartment dec ided to initiate within the s e area s

a drug educa ti on program in the poverty area s . F o r thi s

r ea son , i t was fe l t impor tant that attitudes of ·the in­

d ividua l s to be included in the program be d e termined so

that the health educator s admini s tering the program could

have some bas eline d e s c r iption of att itudes and where the

2

i ndividual s were in the i r th i nking.

Sta · tement o f the Prob l em

Th i s study was concerned with analyzing the r e s -

ponse s o f a s e l ected popu l at ion o f San D i e g o County yo1J.th s .

from poverty areas to a spec i a l ly de s igned s emantic di f-

ferential. t e s t about drug abu s e and comparing th e re spons e s

o f two s ub-groups from within th i s popu l a t ion.

Limitations to th e S tudy

The study was l imited to tho s e groups o f non-school

poverty youth s with wh ich th e various hea l th educators from

the Bure au o f Hea l·th Educat ion were working with. There-

fore, . the s amp l e was no·t repr e s e ntat ive of al l pover·ty area

you·ths. Speci fica l ly, the youth s included in the s tudy

vle re tho s e who be l onged to organ ized groups such as the

Teen Pos · t or Boys' Club. It wa s even fur -ther l imited to

tho s e indivi dual s who had agr e ed to attend a drug education

program.

'J�he s ·tudy was addit i onal l y l imited in the fact that

the deci s ion as to what con s titutes a favorable or an un-

favo r ab l e at· ti tude was made by tho s e invo lved in the Bureau

o f He a l th Educati on drug educa t ion program for poverty area

non-schoo l you·ths. There was no abs o lute as far as favor--

able or unfavorable decisions were concerned in the de ter-

mination o f att itude s pertaining to drug abuse. It wa s

however, a decis ion of the individu a l admini s tering an

a t titud ina l mea sure and ev aluating the re spons e s.

D efinition of Terms

Att i tude: An attitude i s a tendency " . . . to exper­

i enc e some degre e of f avorabl e - unfavor ablene s s toward

that ob j ec t. " (8:29 4 )

Pov erty a rea: Poverty areas for the purpos e a= thi s

s tudy a r e tho s e geographi c are a s d e s i gnated to b e pover ty

ar ea s by the E conomic Oppor tuni ty Commi s s ion of San Diego

County , Inc.

S emanti c D i ff e r enti al� Technique : The s emanti c di f-

f erentia l technique i s a me thod for d e termining and mea­

suring the r e a c t ion of ind ividua l s to concepts throug:h t.he

u s e o f bipolar adjective s c a l e s .

4

CHAPTER I I

L ITERATURE REVIEW

S ince it wa s the purpo s e of thi s s tudy to a scertain

a ttitude s of poverty a r e a youth s r egarding drug abu s e

through the u s e o f the s emantic d i f ferentia l techniqu e , i t

wa s nece s s ary t o survey the l iterature in three speci fic

a r e a s : how youth s f e e l about drug abu s e ; the u s e o f the

s emant ic d if f er ential technique in a scert�ining and eva l-

u a ting a tt itud e s ; and the app l icat ion of the s emant ic d i f-

f erential to h e a l th problems.

Attitude s about Drug Abu s e

Drug addict ion ha s become a matter of great concern

a nd a maj or topic of discu s s ion .

Ninete en·-s event.y may we l l be r emembered a s the year of the great drug panic, the year when addiction wa s a permanent theme in the pre s s and on TV and when government o f f icia l s and o f f ice s e eker s mad e ins tant head l ine s by p l e dg·ing a "ma s s ive attack" on the prob­l em . P eopl e o l d enough to recall previou s waves of hys teri a about drugs and s im i l ar promis e s o f action view thes e pronounce-ments with cynicism verging on d e spair. (23 :7l)

Many author i t i e s have noted a tremendous increas e in the

u s e of a l l drug s. Probably the mo s t in-depth s tudy done

concerning the u sage of var ious drugs wa s undertaken in

1 967 by the San Mateo Depar-tment o f Pub l ic Heal th. (4:18-

23) Th i s s tudy h a s covered a two year period of time with

the mo s t up-to-date r e sults be ing ava i l ab l e for the year

19�9. A total · of 25,883 high s chool s tud ents were surveyed

i n 1969 about u s age of alcoholic beverag e s , tbbacco , mafi�c �'

j uana , LSD and amphetamines. The results of the survey in-

d i ca ted tha t there had been a sharp increa s e in the use of

the s e f ive subs tanc e s wi th the except ion of tobacco during

the time of the·s tudy. Tobacco " . .. i s the orily one of the

mind - alteri ng drugs surveyed that showed any s i gns of de-

crea s e i n u s ag e b ebveen 1968 and 1969 . 1 1 ( 4:19 )

Becau s e drug s have become such a c enter of attention

i n our soc i ety wi thin the la s t decade , there i s a great

d e al of li terature ava ilable on the phys ical and mental ef-

fec ts of drug s as well as speculation on the part of ex-

pert s a s to why youths have turned to drugs. There i s , how-

ever , a limi ted amount of infoima tion on how youths them-

s elve s f e el about drug abu s e. The review of literature ·

covered all areas of drug u s e and abus e, but for the pur-

pos e of thi s study only d i s cu s s e s the referenc e s d ealing

with how youths f eel about drug abuse. It wa s quite sur-

pri s ing to learn tha t so li ttle had been done to a s c erta i n

how youths .f eel about wha t i s con s idered to b e such a man-

umental problem--drug abu s e. One obvious expla�ation for

this may well be that attitudes are relat ively hard to

measure and evaluate . "Perception (related to attitudes )

i s highly variable and often quite erroneou s. (7:44)

A number of work s have inquired into why individuals

u

An __ NBC �hi!-e P aper on Drug Ab�s e , pre s ented a sampl e of

mi ddle c l a s s high schoo l age youths �n Phoenix, Ar izona

g iving the i r r ea s ons for us ing drugs. Some of the rea sons

g iven wer e; youth wa s tired of doing nothing; i t was en-

j oyab l e no t to be one s el f for a period of time ; and the

ind iv idua l f e l t he could be anything he wanted to be whi l e

under the influence of some drug. ( 1 2 )

Drug abu s e ha s been a probl em f o r quite some time .

Unt i l r e c ently , i t was genera l ly cons idered a phenomenon

l imited to low- i ncome ghe tto s . " Seventy-thr ee perc ent of

the nation1s add i cted popul ation i s made up o f urban­

gioups--largely minor i ty ethnic groups--which ac count for

only 15 percent of our tota l popu l a ti on. " ( 13:2 2 ) There

are many r e asons for the pre s ence of drug abu s e i n the

ghetto areas .

For many young sters in the lower s trata , the formation o f a f avorab l e image o f drugs come s about naturally and at an e a r ly age , because o f its s anc tion ed use in the home or neighbor­hood; age , is the only l imi t ing factor in their c a s e. They may be " turned on" e ar ly by older s ib l i ngs or by a s soc i ates; they may never have had a ny adver s e pictures of drugs ... (6:53 )

In intervi ews o f youths who l ive in Mexican-American and

Negro pove r ty commun i ti e s , some o f the rea sons given why

the s e i�d ividu a l s sta r ted us ing drugs were: the fact t.hat

dur ing the day there vier e so many frustrations; there

wer e no r e a d i ly ava i l able a l terna tives to help fight the ir

frus·t�cations; e s c ape ; and whi l e on drugs , they could have

the f eeling tha� they were somebody . ( 1 2 ) Drug abuse i s no

7

longer a problem of low,--income areas alone.

We have grown ac cus tomed to drug abuse as e n­demic in lower cla s s poverty and ghetto areas. We a r e now alarmed to s e e its spr e ad into new popula t ion s and to f i nd the cult ivation of drug role s in cla s s , s tatus , and age pos it ions in whi ch they formerly had no p l ac e . ( 1: 1 0 )

I t i s c e r t a i n l y under s tandable that drug u s a g e ha s

spr ead out s i d e of the ghetto areas . Dr . Joel For t expand s

upon the idea of a drug-or i ented soc iety . There are con-

s tant pre s sure s such _a s legal advert i s ing in which the

var i ou s medi a of t e l ev i s ion , ma gazine and. r ad io are used

to put forth the idea tha t i f you are not f e eling well or

a r e anxiou s take one pill or another and all your problems

will be solved. (10:193-20 7 ) I t ha s become very ingr a i ned

in our soc i e ty to take art i f i c ia l subs tances whethe r they

be a lcoholi c bever ag e s , lega l drugs, or ille gal drugs to

alter the way one f e els .

All of the previous mater i a l i n this r eview of the

liter ature ha s attempted to give some ins ight into why

youths, e spe c ially tho s e living i n poverty areas, u s e and

abu s e drugs. Now that the r e a sons why have been ou tlined1

it i s nece s sary to look at how youths f eel about"the abu s e

of drugs. It should be s tr essed onc e again tha t r elatively

li ttl e information was available in the literature in

which spec i f i c att i tudes about drug u s e and abu s e were d i s-

cus sed . Bernard Barber d e s i gned a s tudy with youthful

ma l e drug u s er s mostly f rom depr ived ar e a s . He found that

they '' . • . are boy s with pes s imist i c 1 unhappy, fu·tile, mis-

TABLE I

NUMBER AND PERCENT D I STRIBUTION OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GIVING SELECTED REASONS FOR NOT USING DRUGS, BY SEX ( 2 4 : 10 )

L-Junior High School 1 Male Female

1 Keasons -----� , I Number

Percent

I would worry about what might happen if I were caught.

I wouldn't want to break a law even if I were pretty sure I wouldn't be caught.

I have seen what drugs have done to others and wouldn:t want that to happen to me.

Because of what I learned about drugs in school.

I feel I can face life and solve my problems without drugs.

I 1,472 10 0.0

18 . 4

6 . 7

2 6 . 8

8.6

3 9 . 5

1,4 26 10 0 . 0

12 . 7

5 . 0

27.6

7 . 1

4 7 . 6

Senior High School Male Female

573 10 0 . 0

19 . 5

5 . 1

2 3 . 2

8 . 0

4 4 . 2

53 4 1 0 0 . 0

11 . 4

4 . 7

25 . 5

5 . 1

53 . 4

\.!:

l I I ' !

I 1

TABLE II

NUMBER AND PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GIVING SELECTED REASONS FOR USING DRUGS, BY SEX ( 2 4 : 11 )

I Junior Hi�h School I Senior High School Male I Female I Male Female

Reasons for Taking Drugs

I Number 2 97 251 2 01 15 0 Percen·t ! 10 0 . 0 10 0 . 0 10 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0

Others my age use drugs. 2 0 . 9 15 . 5 5 . 5 6 . 7

I wanted to find out for myself what taking drugs ' was like. I 3 7 . 0 4 3 . 0 48 . 3 52 . 7

Drugs make you feel good. 2 0 . 2 21 . 1 2 8 . 9 26 . 7

I Drugs make you appreciate the things around you. I 21 . 9 2 0 . 3 17 . 4 14 . 0

f I

I

f­c

TABLE I I I

NUMBER AND PERCENT D I STRIBUTION OF RESPONSES TO SELECTED ATT ITUDE QUESTIONS BY JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, BY DRUG USE (24:16)

ATTITUDE

.Number

Percent Accept Reject Cannot Decide

·No Answer

Percent Accept

• Reject Cannot Decide

·.No Answers

Total

. 3,157

Junior High School

I Never I User :Used I

. 783 2, 347 . ·. I .

Senior·High School Never

Total User Used

.1' 085 453 630 Q72 Mar�JUana Laws Should Be Ellrrunated 1 10 0. 0

I 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 I 10 o. o I I 22.7 42.7 16.3 36.1 58.2 20.3

I

55.3 37.3 61.9 49.3 26.2 6 6. 2 1

I 14.0 1 1.7 14.8 13.0 14.9 1 1.7 8.0 I 8.3 7.0 1.6 0.7 1.7 Q94 Dangerous to Associate with Those Who Use Drugs 100.0 i 100.0 I 100.0 I 100.0 I l?O.O 100.0

49.7

I 41.8 I 52.8 1 44.1 . ;5.5 50.5 i

20.7 31.7 1,.8 1 40.0 I o0.8 36.4, .10.9

I 8.7 1 11.7· 11.1

I 9 .. 5 13.3 !

�8.8 17.9 j 18.2 4.1 4.2 3.8

!-' 1-'

ATTITUDE Percent

Accept Reject Cannot Decide No Answer

PercenJc Accept Reject Cannot Decide No Answer

TA.BLE I I I (continued)

Junior High School

b84 Decision to 100.0 I 100.0 I I

65.6 l 69.0 I

I 9.7 8.9

11.4 8.3 .. 13.2 . 13.8

Use Drugs 100.0

65.2 10.1 12.6 12.1

\Q90 \t\fhether a Person Use.s jlOO.O 100.0 33.6 41.5 36.7 31.0 12. 7 I 11. 4 17.o I 16.1

I 100.0 I

I 3J . .• 2 39.1 13. 3 l 16.4 '

100.0 I 100.0 100.0 I 79.3 84.1 76.0 I 9.8 6.8 11.9

8.3 6.8 1 9.4 1 2.7 I 2.2 .1 2.7 _l

Drugs .fs'nis Own B'lisJ.nes s 100.0 I 100.0 I 100.0 I

39.7 49.0 I 33.2 II 46.8 I 36.2 54.6 10.1 11.7 9.0

3.3 I

3.1 I 3.2

!--' N

trus ting, negative , de fiant , manipulative , and devil-may-

c a r e attitude toward lif e . " ( 3 : 15 2 ) · The environment of a

ghetto ha s been dramatically d e s cribed: " There are no

p ep r allie s in a s lum--shor t of pill partie s . There ar.e no

extracurricular a c tivitie s --shor t of s ex. There is no ad-

ventur e in a s l um--exc ept heroin." ( 1 1 : 2 0 ) Speaking gen-·

e rally of drug us er s , Dr. Max Hayman d e scribes their per son-

a li tie s a s being " . • . pa s sive, i:rrur.atur e , sociable , variab l e ,

likeable and dep endent on othe r s. " He a l s o d e s cribe s a

s tudy of scho l a s tic a l ly average high s chool s tudents which

i ndic ated that 9 3 % of the s tudents f elt cigarette smoking

wa s harmful while 8 0 % f e l t that d rugs were harmful. ( 9 )

I n a dif ferent s tudy ,

. • . among homogen eou s s tudent populations the prediction of who will turn on can be accom­plished at a better than chance level by a t­tending to the variabl e s of drug experience and willingne s s among s tudents and their f riend s • ( 5 : 2 8 8 )

A compr ehensive s tudy wa s r ecen·tly c omple·ted by the

California State D epartment of Educa tion . Cer tain table s

have been reproduc ed in detail because they give signi-

fic a nt indications of a ttitude s of junior and senior high

school s tud ents in Alamed a , Los Angel e s , San D iego , and

San Francisco Coun·tie s. ( 24: 6) From the s e tabl e s , c er tain

conclusion s can be drawn:

1 ) The majority of non-u s e r s of drugs f e l t that

they did not u s e drugs becau s e they f elt drugs

were riot ne c e s s ary to f a c e life and also they

13

had ·seen what drugs have done to others.

2) The r easons why ind ividuals used drugs c arried

approximately the same we ight with one exception .

The desire to d iscover what taking drugs was

like for the individual carr i ed the most we ight.

3 ) As far as spec ific atti t.ud inal que.stions were

c oncerned, the strongest reflected attitude was

that using drugs is a personal dec ision.

In a r ec ent survey conducted by Playboy 7 , 300 col-

lege studen·ts o n approximately 200 campuses were asked

what the single most important issue was to them . Drugs

r anked eighth, preceded by the war in Indochina , rac ial

conflict , the environment , government repression , over-

population , the economy, and cr ime. ( 2 2 : 1 8 2 ) This finding

could have many i nterpr etations . It could mean the colle-ge

students feel that drugs r eally are no significant problem.

It could also mean that there are other th ings that are

more important to s·tudents than drugs, whether it be use

or abuse of drugs .

Use of the S ema ntic D ifferential i n Determinina Attitudes �---- · ·-----�------�--·--

Before d iscussing the development of and the prin-

c iples behind the semantic d ifferential, a discussion of

attitudes is needed . Ronald C. D i llehay gives the fol-

lowing conc ise definition of an attitude, 111\.tti tudes are

tend enc ies to experi ence or act toward an object in a way

i ndicating some d egre e of favor ableness--unfavorableness

14

toward that obj ect . " (8:9 4 ) Gordon Allport proposes that

there are three thi ngs that d etermin'e a person ' s atti·tudes

and actions, These are culture , soc ial class , and per-

sonality . (2:503) Another approach to the influenc ing �f

attitudes are a d i f f er ent but similar set of three factors .

These factors are physiologic, psychologic , and soc io-

cultural d eterminants o f attitudes . ( 17:43) Physiological

d eterminants r efer to such things as f atigue , hunger , and

sexual needs. Psychological d eterminants r e fer to such

things as emoti on, def ense mechanisms, and beli efs . The

f i nal d eterminant , soc iocultural , r ef ers to such things

as soc i al class, cultural background, and ethnic group.

It is obvious that attitudes a f fect behavior .

Most soc ial sc i entists would agree, talking f r e ely on c01mnon sense grounds, that how a person behaves i n a situation d epends upon what that situation means or signi f ies to him and most would also agree that one of the most important f actors in soc ial acti­vity is meaning and change in meaning--whe­ther it be termed " attitude" or "value11 or something else again. ( 21: 1)

Therefore, if attitud es can be d etermined, some conc1u-

sions about possible resultant behavi or can be drawn .

S inc e attitude is a c omplex construct , it should be apparent

that the measuring of attitudes is quite an involved pro-

c ess . One method in measur i ng attitudes is the use of

the semantic d i f f erential technique. This t�chnique is

b est def ined by Charles Osgood and assoc iates . "The

semanti c differ�ntial is a combination of assoc iation and

15

scal i ng proc edures d esi gned to g ive an obj ective measure o f

the connotative meaning of concepts. " (2 0:579) Basical ly,

what the semanti c d i f fe rential techniqu e involves is mea-

sur i ng the r eac t ion of the r espondent to his meaning or

i n terpretation of the word or concept g iven . The c l assical

examp l e g iven by Osgood is that the word " hammer" is d i f-

f er e nt as the obj ect "hammer11 but when given the word " ham-

mer , a person wi l l r eact according to the behavior " ham-

mer " might be i nvolved in . ( 21: 3) What the sernantic d i f--

ferenti a l does , is to measur e the perso n ' � response to the

stimulus word or concept. Osgood goes on to state that

given the simi l a r i ties behqeen human organisms and the

stabl eness o f governing physical l aws, the meanings o f

most per c eptual s igns ( such a s hammer or r a i n ) w i l l be

f airly c onstant among i nd ividua ls . (21:9)

1'he semantic d i f f erential gives the individua l a

c h anc e to r espond to the key concept by using a bipolar

c ontinuum . The r eason for this is expla i ned by Osgood as

f o llows:

( 1 ) The process o f descr ipt i on o r j ud gmen t can be conce ived as the al l oca tion o f a con-. c ept to an exper ientia l continuum def ined by a pa ir of polar terms . . . {2) Many d i f ferent expe r i enti a l continua , or ways in which mean­i ngs vary , are essentia l ly equival ent and henc e may be r epresented by a sing l e d imen­sion . . . (3) A l imi ted number of such continua can be used to def ine a semantic space within which the meaning o f any c oncept can be spe­c if ied .. . The d istr ibution of his j udgments on a standard ized ser i es of such scales serves to d i f ferentiate the meaning of thi s conc ept from o-thers; for this reason this measur ing

16

instrument has been called a semantic d if ­ferential . ( 19: 713 )

The f ormal descr iption o f an item on a semantic

d i f f er ential is:

Each item ( pa i r i ng o f a spec i f i c concept with a spec i f i c scale ) presents the followihg sit­uation:

( CONCEP T ) polar term X : : : : : : polar term Y

TIT TIT T3T TIT Ts > TIT T?T i n which the scale positions have already been d e f ined for the subject i n the instruc tions as :

( 1 ) (2) ( 3 )

extremely X qui te X slightly X

( 4 ) neither X nor Y;

( 7 ) extr emely Y ( 6 ) quite Y (5) slightly Y

equally·x and Y

A spec i fic illustration r elated to health involves the con-

c ept o f cancer and a.typical scale would be :

A fast-moving d isease A slow-moving d isease

The r espondent is asked to g ive an imn1ediate r esponse by

i nd i c a t ing somewhere along the continuum which would most

likely correspond with his feelings. ( 1 4 : 551 ) By in-

d icating a point somewhere along the continuum it is

possible to d e fine where the individual is in comparison

to the extremes given . This is valuable because by

grouping indiv iduals together and thei r r esponse9 together,

it is possible to obtain a c omposite pic·lure of how var-

i ous groups r espond to var ious concepts .

An imporJcant considera·tion i n the construction o f

a seman·t ic d i f f erential i s t o use polar terrns that have

proven to evoke r esponses. Accord ing to the research done

17

by Osgood , there appear to be three d i f f erent types of

f actors evoking d i f f erent r esponses . The f irst factor is

one considered to be evaluative in nature . In other

words , the individual is mak ing a value judgment when

g iv ing his r espo nse to the following scales:

good-bad; beauti ful-ugly; sweet-sour; clean­d irty; tasty-distasteful; valuable-worthless� k i nd-cruel; pleasant-unpleasant; sweet-bitter; happy-sad; sacred-pro fane; nic e-a�ful; fragrant­foul; honest-d ishonest; f a i r-un fair (21:36)

These are scales which Osgood has proven to have high

l oadings, or, in other words , evoke stron� responses.

Another f actor that can be involved is ident i f i ed

as a potency factor . These r elated terms are:

l ar ge-small; strong-weak; heavy-light; th ick­thin. (21:37--38)

The f inal factor measur es activity. The scales that were

found to be most e ff e ctive in measure activit� are :

f ast-slow; active-passive; hot-cold. (21:38)

In the spec i f ic area of semantic d i f ferentials de-

signed to assess attitudes on health , the following scales

were f ound to be valid in evoking r esponses:

good�bad; weak�strong; kind-cruel; heavy-· light; slow-fast; worthless-valuable; sharp-dull; hard-soft; fa ir-unfa ir; pas­sive-a�tive; dirty-clean. (15:39)

There are var i ous d i f f erent ways to evaluate r es-

ponses to the semanti c dif ferential . The simplest is to

use perc entages. This means converting the number o f

r esponses i n each one o f the categories from extremely

18

f avor ab l e to extremely favor a b l e, into perc entages . Two

other methods uti l ized are the prof ile ana lysis method

a nd the attitude sca l ing method . I n the prof i l e ana lysis

method, each concept is stud i ed individual ly. To obta i-n

an avera g e scor e on the p articu lar sc a l e (which has been

pr eviously exp l a i ned on a 1 to 7 sc a l e ) , " • . . multiply

ea ch fr equency by the weight of the interval, add those

values 1 a nd d ivide by the ·tota l number of persons r espond-

i ng. " {15 : 41 ) The examp l e g i v e n b y Kerrick i s a s follows :

good

Suppose the response of a group of 1 2 peop l e o n the sc a l e "good-bad" a r e obtained. Pro­c eed in this manner:

1 17f

3 T6T

2 T5T

5 T4f

1 ( 3)-

0 TIT

0 TIT

bad (Number r esponding·

. • . In this c ase: lx7 + 3x6 + 2x5 + 5x4 + lx3 + Ox 2 + Oxl = 58 . Dividing by the number of r es­pondents , we get 58/12 = 4.8 .

For e ase of understand ing, these average scores are usua lly transformed to a sc a l e of +3 to -3, with positive numbers ind i c ating fa­vorab l e attitudes and negative numbers in­dicating unfavorab l e attitudes. To trans-fonn average scor es from a 1 t.o 7 scal e, as shown abov e, subtract 4 from the average score. An average scor e greater than 4 wou ld , the n , yi eld a positive scor e on the +3 to -3 sca l e, whi l e an avera g e score l ess than 4 would y i e ld a negative score . • . ( 15:41-4 2 )

The purpose of the attitude sc a l ing method i s t o sum the

r es ponses to a l l r e l ated sc a l es . This method gives an

avera g e score for each i nd iv idual on the tota l semantic

dif ferential. ( 15:4 2 )

,.

There are var ious ways i n which the semantic dif-

19

fer ential can be u s ed. One app l i cation wa s to d etermine

a ny d i f f erences i n attitud e s r egarding var ious i l l ne s s e s

between Mexi can-Ame r i c a n and non-Hexican-1\_rnerican youths,

The youths were a sked to r e spond to s evera l adjective

polar pa ir s on var iou s d i s e a s e s such as tube-r culos i s ,

mea s l e s , cold, venere a l d i s e a s e, etc. The r e sults showed

that both groups felt that acute i l lne s se s , such a s

mea s l e s , flu , and the common cold, a r e the l e a st sever e

i l l n e s s e s one could have. Bas ica l ly , the study found out

that the il l ne s s e s thought to be mild by one group were

con s id�red mi ld by the other group, There were d i f ferenc e s ,

however , i n that the Mex i c a n--American group found col d s

l e s s s evere than the non-Mexican group. The Mex ic an­

Amer i c an group a l s o c on side r ed ath l ete's foot more s eve r e

a n d tuberculos i s l e s s s evere than the other group. As

fa r a s ranking the d i s e a s e a s to which wa s the l ea st

seve r e and the mos t s ever e , both groups gave very s imil a r

respon s e s. The r ank order correlation coeffi c ient wa s . 98

whi c h i s exc eption a l ly high. What thi s study did point

out. wa s that the r e a r e differenc e s beh·men the two group s

r egarding· avoidabi l ity of s p e c i f i c i l l ne s s e s. (16 )

A s im i l a r s tudy was carried out by Jenkins . He

adm in i ste r ed what he c a l l s the s emantic di fferentia l for

hea lth (SDH) to 436 p e r sons. The s e per sons were between

the ag e s of 20 and 39 years and were from an urban county

of Florida. The s ampl e was 12 perc ent Ne gro , 12 perc ent

20

Spani sh-speaking white , and 76 percent Engl i sh-speaking

white. A s far as education wa s concerned , 14 percent only

compl eted e lementary s choo l , 27 perce nt had some high

s c hoo l , 43 perc ent we r e high s chool graduates and 16 per-

c ent had at l ea s t some c o l l eg e . Ther e wer e - 202 men and

234 women . Forty-nine percent of the respondents thought

that canc er had the highest attack rate with tuberculo s i s

being s econd, mental i l l ne s s third and pol io fourth . The

r espond ents sai d that d i f f erent d i s e a s e s w i l l attack

d i f f er ent age groups somewhat s electively but they d id not

f e el that it would only attack good or bad peopl e . The

d i s e a s e that wa s cons idered to be the mo s·t s evere and

u s ua l l y r e sulting in d eath wa s canc er. A l s o cancer wa s

the dis e a s e mo s t talked about and thought about. ( 14)

Jenk i n s suiDmar ized hi s f i ndings r egarding the u s e of the

s emantic d i f f er entia l for health a s fo l lows :

Ana l y s i s of the r e spons e s ind i c ated that ( a ) d i s e a s e s are per c eived in systematical ly

d i f f er ent way s , ( b ) the s emanti c d i f feren­t i a l for hea lth i s s e n s itive to the s e d i f­f er enc e s , a nd ( c ) c erta in n ew dimens ions tapped by the s emantic d i f fere ntia l for health add u s e fu l components to the knowl edge about the way d i s ea s e s are v i ewed (14:557 )

The s emanti c d i f fe r en ti a l technique was used in

another s tudy to mea sure attitude s toward mental hea lth�

In thi s study , the i nstrumeni wa s ma i led out to 270 in-

d ividua l s a long with a check for one dollar. A fter fol-

lowup, a tota l of 257 que s tio nnair e s were r e turned. The

purpose of thi s �tudy wa s to a s c ertain attitude s about

ment a l i l lness , t.hose v1ho were menta l ly i l l and those

persons who treat the menta l ly i l l ind ividuals. The

samp l e was d ivided i nto those i ndividua ls who had a hi gh

l evel of educa tion versus those who had a l ow l ev e l of

educ ation . Var ious tests were run on the reiu lts to

se e if those of a high l evel of education had d i f ferent

perc eptions from those. i n the other subgroup. Another

form of analysis was done in whi ch , within the two sub­

groups, to d et ermine d i f fer enc es i n att i tudes about

var ious conc epts. For examp l e , a test was done to see

how the conc epts doc tor and psychiatris� were perc e ived.

In approxima tely 75% of the sc a l es used , the d iff erence

within the subgr oups was statistically sign ifi cant at

the one perc ent l eve l . ( 18 )

The three stud i es cover ed i n this r evi ew of the

l i terature show the app l icati ons of the semantic d i f fer en­

t i a l technique i n the area of hea l th. These stud ies are

very important to the pub l ic heal th worker . Before any

c hange in at ti tudes or behavior can be br ought about , i t

i s nec essary t o ascer tain the existing attitudes of the

ind ividua ls c onc erned . The semantic differential, there�

fore, is a very va luab l e technique in helping the pub l i c

hea l th worker assess these attitudes. Onc e the worker

assesses these a t t i tudes , he has a b ase l i ne against which

compar isons can b e made.

22

Sunwar�

Drug abu s e among the teenager s of today's society

ha s grown in s igni ficant proport ions. Re s earcher s ar e

j us t b eginning , however , to look at wha t the youths them­

s e lves s ay about drug abu s e . General ly thos e youths who

d i d not u s e drugs s a id that they did not need them to

fac e l i fe �nd they had seen wha t drugs had done to othe r s .

Those who wer e drug u s e r s , tr i ed drugs becau s e they wanted

to find out for them s e lves what us ing drugs would be l ike.

The s emantic d i fferential te chni que , d ev�loped by O sgood

and hi s a s soc i a t e s , i s a conv eni ent way to mea sure a t­

�itud e s quantitatively. The s emantic d i f ferent i a l ha s

proven to be ex·tr emely helpfu l i n the ar e a of heal th

educ at ion and wou l d a l so he lp i n mea sur ing attitude s about

drug abus e.

23

CHAPTER III

METHODS

The in strument used for mea s u r ing attitudes, the

s amp l ing proc e dvr e s , and the procedure s u s e d · for analyzing

the da-ta a re de s c r ibed in th i s chapter.

Statement. of the Problem

Thi s s tudy was conce rned with ana lyzing the respon-­

s e s of a s eiec·ted popu l at ion of San Dieg·o County youths

from poverty a r e a s to a spe c i a l ly des igned s emantic dif­

f e ren t i a l t e s t about drug abuse and the compari son of the

r e spon s e s of two sub--g-roups from within ·th i s popu lat ion.

'I'he Ins t rument.

The ins -trumen- t u s e d in thi s s tudy was construc- ted

after cons i de r i ng the r e l evan- t concepts in drug abus e

and bipo lar adje c t ive pa i r s re lated t o e ach c onc ept . The

concep- t s under c o n s i dera- t ion fall i nJco thr e e groups :

1 . v i ews regarding a drug abus er;

2. ch aracter i s t i c s of drug abusei and

3. chance s of drug involvement.

'l'wo of the s e g rouping-s were furJch e r d e l ineated. Cha rac -ter-

ist i c s of drug abu s e inc luded preventab i l i ty of drug

abus�, drug abus e as an i l ln e s s , and an eva luat ion of drug

abu s e. Cha nce s of involvement: were furt.hc.:;r cat:egorize d

into verba l invo lvemen·t and act.ual invo lvemen- t. The bipol ar

adjectives s e l ected were ones that had e ither been val i-

d ated by previous stud i e s or were directly r e l ated to drug

a bu s e.

The s emanti c d i f f erenti a l was d e s igned spe c i f i c a l ly

to d etermin e attitude s on drug abu s e . On the cover in-

s truction she et, the fo l l owing d e f i nition was given :

By drug abu s e we mean that a per s on u s e s , now and then, without a doctor's pr e s ­c r iption a t l ea st o n e of the fol lowing drug s :

Barbiturate s Amphetami n e s L S D

Har i juana Heroin Volati l e c hemica l s

I t shou ld be noted that thi s i s a very l imited definition

o f drug abus e. The r e is sub stantia l f e e l i ng and opinion

within our soc iety that the u s e of drug s , whether or not

the u s e is d ic tated by a med i c a l pre s c r iption , i s not d e-

t ermined by a one-time i l lega l expo sure to a drug . Re-

f l eeting thi s f e e l i ng i s the noti on that drugs a lone ,

whether they b� a spirins or amphetamine s , a r e not good

or bad . It i s how a pers o n u s e s a drug or why he u s e s it

that l ea ds to d etermining u s e as oppo sed to abu se. How-

ever , for the purpo s e s of thi s study it was nec e s sary to

e stab l i sh s ome d e f i nite criteri a . The r efore , drug abu s e

wa s d e f ined a s u s e o f a spec i f i c drug a t lea st onc e with-

out a pr e s cr iption .

A l s o, on the cover sheet in structions on how to

r e spond to a s emanti c d i f fer en�ci a l test were g iven. It

wa s f elt that many of the youths , e spec i a l ly the younger

25

one s, wou ld no·t be familiar with this type o f me a suring

technique. In addition to the written expl anation, each

h e a l th e duc a·tor adminis·tering the s emantic dif ferential

to various groups a l s o gave a ve rbal explanation if neeaed.

Individual s we re ins tructed to r e s pond immediate ly

and not ·to h e s itate or think for too long a pe riod of time

about their respons e s . The fir s t two items we re inc luded

for th e purpos e o f acquainting the r e s pondents with th e

s emantic dif ferentia l instrumen·t. Th.ey we re not to be

inc luded in_ the evaluation o f the resul·t s . ( S e e Appendix

A for the s eman'cic dif fe r ential ins ·trument. )

The Target Group

The s ampl e consis·ted o f groups o f non- s chool pover-ty

are a teen--age you· ths. The geog-raphic a l poverty c.re a s were

outlined by the Economic Oppor·tuni ty Corru-nis sion of S an

Diego County, Inc. Within e a ch pover-ty area, the Ec onomic

Oppor-tunity Corru-nis s ion formed Community l',c tion Council s

f rom which speci fic groups o f individuals for this s tudy

were ob·tained. The locations of the various Communi·ty

Ac tion Council s (CAC s ) indicated Jche various areas o f S an

Dieg·o Coun·ty considered to be pover·ty a reas. The Community

Action Councils a r e lis · ted in Appendix B . A g roup o f non­

s chool youth s wa s considered to be a group o f youths wh ere

at l east. fifty p e rcent o f th e individual s in t:he group

we re not attending school.

26

Method o f S e l ec t i ng the Gro�s

various heal th educators we re working with youth

g roups in di f fe rent areas in the county . 'I'he health e du­

cator s we re reque sted to admin i s t e r the s eman·t ic d i ffe ren­

t ial t e s t to the youth g roups whi ch did not objec t to

taking such a t e s t. I n s ome ins tance s the health educators

did not admin i s ·t e r the s emantic t e s t to s ome groups .

Th i s was becau s e th e educators though t that the adminis­

tration o f such a test wou l d hamper the i r. sub s equent e du­

cation program . The health e ducator was aide d by th e

�ponsoring agenc i e s o f the youth g roups in locat ing and

dec iding upon the non� s choo l poverty you·th g-roups. The s e

agenc i e s cons i sted o f the Community Ac·t ion Counc i l s along

with o ther org·ani zat ions such as the Ne ighborhood Youth

Corps, Boys' Club s , Teen Pos t s , Youth Oppor·tun i ty Cent e r s

and the Mayor's Counc i l. Al l of the groups inc luded in

the targe t popula·tion we re from the variou s groups and

counc i l s.

Two major drawback s were encoun·tered in dec iding

upon the par·ticu lar non-school poverty you·th grou.p for the

admini s trat ion o f the t e s t: a) s chool dropou·t youth s are

hard t.o locate as the y do no·t bel ong to organized groups;

b) s choo l dropouts typical ly are turned o f f by paper and

penc i l exerc i s e s.

Each healJch e ducator was required to g e t r e s ponses

27

to the s emanti c d i f fe rent ial for a ce rtain number o f in­

dividual s i n the d i f fe rent geograph i cal areas as s igned

to that health e ducator i n the Bureau o f Health Edu.cat ion .

The s ampl e that was f inal ly achi eve d inc luded some t\,:enty--

one d i f ferent groups meeting prior to 1970 . Involved

in the s e twenty-one d i f ferent groups wex·e 269 youth s.

The s e twenty-one d i ffe rent groups did extend througho-ut

the County and i t i s f e l t that a good c ro s s - s e c t ional

repre s entation o f the poverty areas was achieve d . The

h ea� th educator made the det e rminat ion ·that a group was a

g roup o f non- s chool youth s. In th i s determinat ion, he was

aided by the s'ca f f o f the age nc i e s from wh ich the groups

were obtaine d . A l so, agenc i e s from with i n 'che communi tie s

were aware that th i s s e rvice o f drug education wa s avai l­

ab l e and requ e s t. for the s e se s s ions we re sometime s initiated

by agency personne l .

S e l e c t ion o f_Sub�Groups

Out o f th e twenty-one groups, two spec i fi c sub­

groups we r e p icked comparative purpo s e s . One o f the groups

was the Boys' C lub o f Carlsbad . Typica l l y, the var ious

Boys' C lub s were k nown to att ract a c er-tain cal iber of

boy s . The s tereotype attributed to the Boys' Clubs \·Ias

that the memb e r s tended to be II s · traight I I • rrhey g enerally

had no problem with the law and were al so thought to be

boys who wou l d probab ly s tay o f f drugs or might jus -t ex­

periment with the var ious drugs once or twi ce. 'I'he o·t:her

s ub-group was s e l e ct.ed becau s e it was an integra l part. o f

the penal s · tructure . Rancho del Campo lS an honor camp·

run by the San Di ego County Departmen·t o f Honor Camps.

S pe c i f i c a l ly, there is a drug s e ction in th i s c amp and thi s

i s whe r e youth s wi ·th drug probl ems who have become invo lved

wi·th the l aw were sen· t. The Boys I Club group wa s th ought

to r e f l ec· t the at·ti tude s o f youths who wi l l s · tay out o f

t roub l e whe r e a s the group from Rancho de l Campo Hono r

Camp were thos e youths who have a l ready been in troub l e

and have been s entenced to confinement within the Honor

Camp . Tho s e confined to the Honor Camps were tho s e who

gene r a l ly were not f i r s t t ime o f fe nders. 'I'h e s e were

youth s who we re b e l ieved to ne ed more than ju st probat ion

or r e l ea s e · to the i r parents. It wa s f e l ·t that c e rta in

inte r e sting conc l u s i ons might be drawn from the r e sults

of thi s s · tudy, e i · ther suppor-t ing or d i sproving th e ideas

pres en·ted above .

In surrLmary, twenty-one groups c ate ring ·to non­

s chool youth s from poverty a r e a s were te sted . Within

the s e twent:y-one groups a to·t a l of 269 s emantic d i f fe r en­

t i a l te sts were pres ente d and complete d. Two sub-groups,

Rancho de l Campo you-ths and the Boys 1 Club of Ca rl sbad.

were s elected fo r compari son.

It took approximate ly one year to develop, adminis­

ter, and ana l yze the data col lected from the s ampl e

29

Analysis of the Data

S i nce it was fel t that the results of th is study

migh t be used in many ways to show how the San Diego

County poverty youth responded to quest ions_

abou· t drug

abuse, a simpl e and concise eva luation scheme was con­

si dered most important. Perce ntages and profile ana lysis

method were used in order to compare th e attitudes of

se lected groups and t.he composite group towards th e drug

prob l em in genera l . The deta i l s fol low.

A sca l e compose d of nineteen sections was deve loped

a nd numbered as fol l ows:

+9 +8 + ;r""+'6+s +4 +3 + 2 +1 o -1 -:r -3 -4 -s -6 ... 7 -s - 9

The +9 score was attribut.ed to the most favorabl e

responses with a -9 score o n the other e n d being assigned

. to ·the mos·t unfavorabl e response.

The Bure au of Hea l >ch Education staff determined

wh a· t woul d be the favorab l e and un favorab l e responses.

'l1he f avorabl e ness and unfavor ab leness of ·the responses

were arbiJcrar i l y de-t ermined and are subject to debate but

i t was felt that the responses wou l d i n a minimum fash ion

provide some i nformat ion about. wh a t poverty youth in San

Diego Cm;tn"cy felt about drug abuse. 'rhese responses ap­

pear on th e insJcrumen·t. E ach score from +9 i.:o -9 was Jchen

divided inJco groupings of three except for the middl e

score of 0 which was cl assi fied a l one. The groups >,vere

30

de lineated a s fol lows:

+9 to +7 +6 · to +4 + 3 to +1

0 -1 to -3 -4 to -6 -7 to -9

very Favorab l e Qui·te E'avorabl e S lightly Favorabl e Neut·ral S light ly Unfavorable Qui·te Unfavorab l e Very Unfavorab le ·

For e ach item, the p e rc e ntage of r e s pon s e s for

e ach of ·the various groupings wa s calculate d . From the

percentage s of the s e c ategorie s , it then became pos sible

to give a pic toria l rep r e s entation of th e variou s r e s --

pon s e s by u s e of a simple bar graph. From the s e perc ent-

age s , conclusions regarding a·tti tude s of you·th s from low·

income are a s were drawn. Al ong with u s e of percentage s ,

the profile analysis method dis cus s e d in the previous

chapter v1as used ( s ee Chapte r I I ) . By u s e of this me>chod,

it was pos sible to give a s core on each item for the tot a l

c ounty composite as we l l a s for the two specific sub-groups.

The s core s fal l in the fol lowing s c a l e :

+ 3 + 2 + 1

0 - 1 - 2 -3

Very Favorab l e Quite 1,-'avorab l e S lightly Favorab l e Neut ral S light ly Unfavorabl e Quite Unfavorab l e Ve ry Unfavorab le

The analysis wil l b e accomplished by g-roupi ng ·the

r e s u l t s according to the vario·us factor s . Concepts 3 , 4

and 5 indicated views rega rding a drug abus e r. Charac ter-

i s tic s of drug abus e were ref l e c ted in concepts 6 , 9, 1 1

and 1 2 . Ch anc e s of involvement appeared in concep-t s 7 , 8

3 2

and lO .

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND DI SCUSS I ON

I . CBJ."\RACTERI S�riCS OF 'I'HE SAMPLE

The semantic d i fferent i a l instrument was adminis-

tered to 26 9 non-schoo l poverty area. youths. The sub-

j ects resided in a var i e ty o f locations ·with in San Dieg-o

County and we re i nvo lVed in d i f fe rent recreat i on a l af-

f i l i at. ions . ( Se e Tab l e IV)

The county-wide sample consisted of 3 1% g irls and

6 9% boys. Approximat e l y 6 0% of the sampl e were 14 Jco 1 7

ye ars o f age. ( Se e T ab l e V)

Two sub-g roup s , the Boys' Club of Carlsbad and

Rancho de l Campo Honor Camp , were chosen for comparison

of the i r attitudes tow ards drug abuse . Al l the sub j e c ts

i n these groups were ma l es and the ma j o r i ty of them we:ce

betwee n 14 and 19 ye a rs o f age . ( Se e T ab l e VI)

d istr ibution of the two groups was comparab l e .

I I . GROUPING OF CONCE PTS UT ILIZED IN THE INSTRUMENT

The ag-e

Various concepts from the seman-t ic di f ferent i a l

iristrument were group e d into thr e e catego r i es : views to-

ward a drug abuser ; chances of drug invo lvement ; and ch ar-

acter ist ics of drug abuse . ( S ee Tab l e VI I )

TABLE IV

DI STRIBUT ION OF YOUTH ACCORD ING TO AFFIL IAT ION

Affil.l.at i on

Otay Youth Center

C la i remont Boys ' Club

Oceanview Center

Linda V i s ·t a Comrnun i ty Action Coun c i l

Neighborhood Youth Corp s

Ocean s ide S ervi ce Center

Las Colinas Honor Camp ( two groups )

Linda Vista Boys ' Club

San Ys idro Teen Pos t

Job s Now

No·t Involve d

6

9

9

1 7

11

7

28

2 0

1 1

5

E l Toyon (National C i ty ) Recre a tion C e n ter 4

San D ie go Gir l s ' C lub 1 5

Campo ( two g-roup s ) 4 3

Gol den H i l l s Recre ation Center 17

Boys ' C l ub o f Car l sbad 2 3

T e en P o s t I I ( two group s ) 21

Granite H i l l s N e i ghborhood Hous e 9

Sterling ( Ocean s ide ) Wive s ' Club 1 4

Tot a l 2 6 9

3 4

35

TABLE V

AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUT I ON OF THE COUNTY-WIDE SANPLE

Percent P ercen·t Age · Boys · Gir l s

---·---

No Re spon s e 3 . 7 2 7 . 6 0

1 2 years o ld 1 . 4 7 . 37

1 3 y e a r s o l d . 74 2 . 2 3

1 4 y e a r s o l d 4 . 0 9 4 . 46

15 y e a r s o l d 1 1 . 15 4 . 83

16 year s o l d 16 . 73 4 . 83

17 y e a r s o l d 1 1 . 9 0 4 . 46

1 8 y e a r s o ld 8 . 1 8 2 . 9 7

1 9 y e a r s o ld 2 . 2 3 1 . 8 6

Over 1 9 years old 8 . 55 2 . 60

Total ( n="26 9 ) 6 8 . 76 3 1 . 2

Age

14- 1 6 ye ars

17-19 y ears

20- 2 2 years

TABLE V I

AGE D I STRIBUTION OF SUBJECTS IN THE SUB-GROUPS

o l d

old

o l d

Sub-Groups Boys ' C lub Rancho del Campo -��--- -------

1 2 14

9 7

2 1

3 6

C ategory

I . V :i: ews Toward a Drug Abu ser

I I . Chanc e s of Drug I nvo lve­ment

I I I . Chara c t er ­i s ti c s of

. Drug Abu s e

TABLE V I I

CATEGORIES OF CONCEPTS

Number

3 4 5

7 8

1 0

6 9

1 1 1 2

Concepts ----·----D e s c r iption

When 0. drug abuser i s a When a drug abu s er i s a Whe n a drug abu s er i s a n

C hance s of abu s i ng drugs Talking about drug abu s e Thinking about drug s

Stopp ing drug abu s e

boy g i r l

adult

Character of drug abu s e (c l ean­d irJcy)

Drug abu s e being i l lne s s Addictive natur e of drug abu s e

3 7

I I I . COMPO S ITE COUNTY�WIDE SAMPLE

Interpretation of Re sponse�Und er�ach Ca��go£y

Ind ividual concepts l i s ted under each cat egory

may not e l i c i t s im ilar r e spon s e s from a l l of the subj ects .

I n order to examin e thi s po s s ib i l i ty , a na l y s i s was con­

duc ted u s ing percentage r e s pon s e s to d i f f erent components

within each c onc ept .

Category I . V iew s Towa�9��E� Abu?e r . A s ig ­

n i f icantly greater number of i ndividual s ( 5 % s i gnif icance

l eve l ) ind i c ated a n extr emely favorab l e r e spon s e to Con­

c ep t 5 , 1 1 an adu l t who abu s e s drugs is bad 1 1 1 a s cornpared to

Concept 3 , " a boy who abu s e s drugs is b ad . 11 The subj ec ,t s

s e emed to imply that i t i s wor s e for an adu l t to abu s e

drugs than for a boy to do so . Tho s e who h e l d neutr a l

o r unf avorabl e attitud e s did not r e f l ec t th i s point o f

v i ew . ( Se e Appendix C )

C a ·tegory__II . ,_ Chanc e s o f Drug I l}_y_

ol_y��':-��t . About

6 0 % o f the - county--wide s amp l e i ndic ated that the r e vJer e

chanc e s of the i r gett ing invo lved in drug abu s e � ( Concept

7 ) • . About 78% ta lked abou t drug abu s e (Concept 8 ) , vJhere·­

a s · 59 % indica ·t ed tha.t they 'chought abou·t drug s ( Conc ept

1 0 ) . S e e Appendix C for d e ta i l s o f perc entage s . The

number o f i ndividua l s r e s ponding f avorably or unfavorably

to s ome o f the concepts wa s s i gni f icantly d i f fer ent when

3 8

c ompared wi th each othe r . ( Se e Table V I I I )

Category I I I . Character i s t i c s o f Drug Abu s e . At-

t i tude s toward some character i s ti c s of d rug abu s e identi fy

important content areas for educational programs :

Do the sub j ects think that drug abus e can be stopped? ( Concept 6 ) Do the sub j ects think that drug abus e i s d i r ty ? (Concept 9 ) Do the sub j ects think that drug abus e i s not a n i l lnes s ? ( Conc ept 1 1 ) Do the subj ects think that drugs are ad­d ic tive? ( Concept 1 2 )

Concepts 6 , 9 , 1 1 and 1 2 had a f avorab l e re spons e

o f 5 2 % , 4 4 % , 4 8 % , and 2 8 % r e spectively . The attitud e s

toward addi ction were l e a s t favorab l e .

The number o f i ndividu a l s r e sponding favorably or

unfavorably to some o f the conc epts wa s s i gn i f i c antly d if-

f er ent when compar ed wi th each other . ( See Tabl e V I I I -A )

I nter�retati�n of Prof i l e Va�ues ynder Each Categorz

The pro f i l e analy s i s i s an a l ternate way of exam-

ining data { Se e C hapter I I , Page 1 � . I t provides an

over a l l picture of data previous ly d i s c u s s ed .

Tabl e I X provid e s information about att itudes that

might be f avorable or unfavorab l e to the educationa l goa l s

o f Bur eau of Hea l th Educ ation drug abu s e program .

It i s i ntere s ting to note that i n the f ir s t two

categor i e s , the attitud e s were e i ther cons i stently favor-

abl e or unfavorable . The county-wide s ampl e viewed a

drug abu s er a s someone who i s bad . However , the group

3 9

TABLE VI I I

COMPARI SON OF RE SPON S E S OF COMPOS ITE SAMPLE OF NON-SCHOOL POVERTY AREA YOUTH TO THREE CONCEPTS UNDER CHANCES OF INVOLVEMENT

Concepts 7 . 8 1 0 .-----

Response

I chan c e s taik ing h ' k . --t 1n 1ng

Extreme ly Favorab l e

Quite Un favorab le

Extreme ly Favorab le

· o f abus :Lng

drugs

1 7 %

5 %

4 3 %

4 3 %

about about drug abu s e drt1gs

8 % 8 % 2 1 %

1 4 %

3 4 % 5 8 %

Al l the compari sons pre s ented are s ignifi c antly dif ferent ( oc = . 0 5 )

J

4 0

TABLE V I I I A

COMPARI SON OF THE RESPONSES OF THE COUNTY-·VJIDE SAMPLE TO FOUR CONCEPTS UNDER THE

CHARACTERI STICS OF D RUG ABUSE

Response

Extremely Favorabl e

S l i ghtly F avorab l e

S l i ghtly Unfavorabl e

Extreme ly Unfavorable

% Re spon s e to C oncepts Compared

6 9 l l

2 5 3 9 2 5

2 4 3 9

2 3 4 1 5 4

4 1 7 4 1 7

1 0 4

2 0 2 7 3 0

2 0

A l l the l i sted compa r i sons are s ignifica�t

4 1

1 2

6 6 6

1 8

2 5 1 0 2 5

3 0

i ndicated the ir own pos s ib l e involvement in the abu se of

drug s . There wa s no c lear-cut pattern o f favorable versus

unfavorable r e spon s e s for the third c ategory .

D i s c u s s ion o f Data From the C ounty-Wid e S ampl e

The r e spon s e s from the county-wide samp l e sugge st

tha t a large number o f per sons were neutr a l in their views

toward a drug abu ser ( Category I ) . Responses to Category

I I conc epts show l e s s neutr a l ity ( See Table X ) . Either

a neu tr a l or f avorabl e attitude toward an adul t drug

abu s er wa s held by 7 1 % of the sub j ects .

In Category I I , the higher unfavorabl e · percentages

a nd negative pro f i l e values s e em to ind i c a te that the San

D i ego County youth were concerned with the threat o f drug

invo lvement .

The ma j or i ty o f persons �n the s ample did not feel

t ha t drug s were addi ctive . The Bureau of Hea l th Education

cons ider ed thi s to be a n unfavorable atti tude toward drug

educa tion .

IV . SUB-GROUPS

C ompari son of _ 'I'wo S"l.J.b-Gro�J?S Prom the CC?._��!;.Y W_ide S ample

The two sub- groups d i ffered from one another on

one important variabl e , whether or not the member s wer e

in troubl e wi th the l aw . The ages wer e comparabl e , but

data was not ava i l a b l e regarding other character i s t ic s .

4 2

The member s of the Boy s ' C l ub re sponded f avorably

to a l l but two o f the concepts . I n add i t io n 1 the pro f i re .

values for the same concept s were pos itive . ( Se e Table

X I ) The two concepts for which there \vas unfavorable re­

a ction r e f erred to chanc e s o f getting invo lved in drug

abu s e and ta lki�g about drug s . I n c ontra s t , the Rancho

d e l Campo member s d i d not react favorably to a s ingl e con­

c ept . The prof i l e values wer e negative for a l l concepts .

Compar i son o f th� County-Wide Sample and the Sub-Groups

The county-wide samp l e responses for each concept

s e emed to ind icate that ther e were many persons who held

v i ews which wer e inbetween tho s e held by the sub j ects from

the Boys ' Club and Rancho d e l Campo . ( See Tabl e X I I )

Surmnary

A s emantic d i f f erential t e s t was d eveloped to

probe for a ·tt i h.1de s whi c h might f ac i l i ta·te or hamper a

drug abu s e educa tion program that wa s d eveloped by the

Bureau o f Health Education , San D iego County Hea lth De­

partment . · Th e r e spon s e s to the ten concepts that were

i ncorporated into the t e s t were r a ted as f avorabl e or un­

f avorab l e to the education program .

The subj ec·t s in the count.y�wi d e s ampl e r e sponded

favorably to a l l concep t s in Category I which dealt wi th

how the sub j e c t s viewed a drug abus er . I n C ategory I I ,

the r espon s e s wh ich d e a l t wi ·th personal invo lvement: wi·th

43

TABLE IX

P ROFILE ANALYS IS VALDES IN TERMS OF CATEGORI ES ��D FAVOP�BLE ATT IDUES TO GOALS

OF EDUCAT IONAL P ROGRAM - C OUNTY-WIDE COMPOS ITE

Category

Views Tovard a Drug Abus e r

Chan c e s o f Drug Invo lveme n t

Favor ab le t o the Goals o f the Education­al Program ·

Concept 3 ( + 0 . 2 1 )

Concept 4

Concept 5

.,.

( + 0 . 4 G )

( + 0 . 9 1 )

. - . . .

-

_,.,---------------1----

Character i s t i c s of D r ng Abus e Concept 6 ( + 0 . 2 1 )

Negat ive · Prof ile Va lue

Unfavorab l e to the goals o f the Educati on a l P rogram

--

Con cept 7 ( - 0 . 8 1 )

Concept 8 ( - 1 . 61)

Concept 10 ( � O . S lll

- -· --

Con c ep t 9 ( - 0 .11)

Concept 11 ( +0 . 1 9 ) Conc ept 1 2 ( - 0 . 9 80 �-------------·--------------------------·-·

4 4

Category , I

Views to - 3 wards a 4 drug a- 5 buser

I I Chances 7 o f drug 8 involve- 10 ment

I I I Character- 6 i st ics of 9 drug abuse 11

12

TABLE X

RESPONSES OF THE COUNTY-WIDE SAMPLE TO EACH OF THE CONCEPTS

Profile Value Favorable Not Favorable

+0 . 21 +0.46 +0 . 91

+0 . 21

+0.19

-0 . 81 -1 . 61 -0 . 51

- 0.11

-0.98

% Responses to Concepts Favorable* Neutral Unfavorable

42% 48% 56%

30% 20% 39%

53 % 45% 48% 28 %

18 % 13 % 15%

10% 1% 1%

5% 8 % 8 % 7 %

40% 3 9% 29%

60% 7 9% 60%

42% 47 % 44% 65 %

* The definition of favorable or unfavorable views was made by the Bureau of Health Education

"" u

TABLE X I

RESPONSES OF THE RANCHO DEL CAMPO AND BOYS ' CLUB OF CARLSBAD SUB-GROUPS -TO

EACH OF THE CONCEPTS

Category Con- P ro f i l e % Respons e s to Concepts cept* Values F avorable

Al B 2 A B

I 3 + 2 . 2 4 - 0 . 8 6 8 0 23 4 + 2 . 0 8 - 1 . 0 5 8 7 23 5 + 2 . 5 2 - 0 . 6 4 9 2 26

I I 7 - 0 . 4 8 - 2 . 0 0 26 1 3 8 - . 0 3 3 - 2 . 1 9 3 8 1 4

1 0 + 1 . 4 4 - 2 . 5 7 7 6 0

I I I 6 +1 . 6 5 - 0 . 7 9 8 3 4 2 9 + 2 . 1 6 -- 1 . 9 6 8 8 4

1 1 + 1 . 5 6 - 0 . 9 5 7 2 27 1 2 + 0 . 20 - 1 . 9 1 4 8 0

* + i ndicates favorable values - i nd i cate s unfavorabl e values

1 Boy s ' C lub of Carl sbad 2 Rancho del Campo

Neutr a l Unfavorable -�--- --�-�-�--

A B A B

4 27 1 6 5 0 0 1 3 1 3 6 4 0 27 8 4 7

0 0 7 4 8 7 0 0 6 2 8 6 0 1 3 24 8 7

0 0 1 7 5 8 1 3 1 2 8 3

8 5 20 6 8 8 4 4 4 9 2

Boy s ' C lub = 23 Rancho del Campo - 23

4 6

TABLE X I I

PROFILE VALUE S OF THE COUNTY-WIDE SA}1PLE AND SUB-GROUPS ACCORD ING TO CATEGORY AND CONCEPTS

Categorz

I

I I

I I I

Concept

3 4 5

7 8

1 0

6 9

1 1 1 2

County-Wi de Sa:rrtp1e · Boys ' C lub

+ 0 . 2 1 + 0 . 4 6 + 0 . 9 1

- 0 . 8 1 - 1 . 6 1 - 0 . 5 1

+0 . 2 1 . - 0 . 1 1 + 0 . 1 9

- 0 . 9 8

+2 . 2 4 +2 . 2 8 +2 . 5 2

- 0 . 4 8 - 0 . 3 3 + 1 . 4 4

+1 . 6 5 +2 . 1 6 +1 . 5 6

+ 0 . 2 0

Rondo de· Camp�

- 0 . 8 6 - 1 . 0 5 - 0 . 6 4

- 2 :o o - 2 . 1 9

- 2 . 5 7

- 0 . 7 9 - 1 . 9 6 - 0 . 9 5 ·- 1 . 9 1

'± I

drugs were a l l unfavorable . I n Category I I I , the c haracter­

i st i c s of drug abu s e , the r e were mixed r e s pons e s .

The member s of the Boy s ' C lub r e s ponded favorably

to a l l concepts wi th the exception o f two� -concept 7 and 8 .

The member s o f Rancho de l Campo , who had troub l e

w i th the l aw , r e s ponded unfavorably to a l l o f the conc epts .

The re s pons e s from the county-wide samp l e s e em to

ref l ec t the middl e po int of v i ew when vi ewed f rom the

extr emes of the sub-group s .

Thi s s tudy wa s uniqu e i n tha t the s amp l e s e l e c t ed

for s tudy was compos ed of non- s choo l p overty youths . A s

" f ar a s could b e d e termined by the r ev i ew o f the l i teratur e ,

the s tudy r epr e s e n· t s the f i r s t attempt to util ize the

s emantic d i f f erent i a l t e s t to a s c ertain attitud e s about

drug s . Another unique feature o f the s tudy was the at­

t empt to i nterp r e t data and dra\,7 imp l ications for drug

educa tion program s . Previous stud i e s have p r e s e nted dat�

without attempting i nterpr etation.

4 8

C HAPTER V

EDUCAT IONAL IMPL ICATIONS

It is common for the youth o f today to talk about

dr ug s . They are i n the midd l e of the drug s c ene . Within

thi s s c ene are indiv i dua l s and groups who d i f f er from one

another in the i r atti tudes towards drugs and tho s e who

u s e drug s . They a l s o d i ffer i n the i r f e e l ings about thei r

own drug involvement . O n e may po s tu l at e . that i f the r e are

a var i e ty o f f e e l ings about drug s , i t will b e nec8 s s ary

to d evelop a var i e ty of educat ional programs to cope with

the s e f e e l ings . With the r i ght di agno s t i c too l , i t might

b e pos s ibl e to d e l ineate a minimum number of educ ational

programs that wou ld be needed to reach a maximum number o f

p e rsons . Through an educat iona l d i agno s i s , spe c i f i c pro­

grams could be developed a nd instituted tha t wou l d cope

with the appropri ate needs . The d evel oprr.ent of educ a t iona l

programs wou l d then be s e l e c t ive r ather than try ing to

encomp a s s a l l p e r s ons with a l l kind s o f b e l i e f s .

Thi s s -tudy s e ems to i nd icate that the s emantic

d i f ferential t e s t may b e helpful in making a n educational

d iagno s i s . Ana l y s i s of the s emantic d i f ferenti a l data

fr om ·thi s s ·tudy pi npointed the need to examine sub-groups

o f a s amp l e i n order to avo id the ma sking of important

f indi ng s . The r e spons e s from the county-wid e s ampl e were

var i ed and cover e d a 1..·ange o f f e e l i ng·s and attitude s . By

� .

examining r e s ponse s for t.wo sub- groups , very d i f feren·t

kinds o f atti tude s were observed . More s pe c i f i c i nforma ­

tio n became ava i l ab l e to a s s i s t i n program pl annin� . I f

the d a t a from t h e county-wide s amp l e were · u s e d exclus ively

for planning , ther e would be no clear indi c a tion of what

kind of a n educational program to deve lop for the group .

Examina t i on o f the sub-group d a tq reve a l ed the

n eed for two kind s of program s . For members o f the Boys '

C lub , whos e at ti tude s toward drug abuse wer e a l r eady

f avorabl e , programs wi l l be needed tha t r e i nfor c e exi s ting

a tt i tud e s . For member s o f Rancho del C ampo , �ho s e at­

� itud e s were unf avorabl e , progr ams wi l l be needed that

change the s e a t t i tud e s .

Addi t ional information was gained by us ing the

s emantic d i f f er ent i al t e s t in thi s s h1dy . An examination

of the r e sponse s to the concepts for both the county�wide

s ampl e and the two sub-· groups h elped d e l i nea·te s p e c i f i c

c ontent a r e a s tha t c ou ld be incorporated into educational

programs . For examp l e , one f inding sugge s t s that a number

of subj e c t s v iew the abu s e of drugs by adults to . be wor se

than the abct s e o f drugs by youth . Some f e e l that i t

i s wor s e f o r a f ema l e to abu s e drugs than a mal e . I f

a t ti tude s about drug abu s e a r e t o be changed b y a n educ a­

tional program , th i s type of spec i f ic i nforma tion i s

nec e s sary for progr am planning .

s o

Thi s type of s tudy a l so helps rai s e add i tional

que s t ions tha t need to be answered . I t provid es sug­

g e s t ions for fur ther r e s earch . For examp l e , one may

que s tion why ther e were so many negative attitud e s toward

per sonal involvement wi th drug s . I s i t because drug s

are s o ava i labl e ? I s it b e c au s e s o many person s are

i nvolved wi th drugs and th i s is the -thing to do ? vvhy

do member s o f the Boy s ' C lub have such po s i t ive f e e l i ng s ?

I s thi s a ref l e ction of the ir env i ronmen-t? Why i s there

unfavorable r e spons e s about addic tion? Does this imp l y

l a c k of know l edge?

F ina l l y , thi s s -tudy s ugge s t s s ome add it ional

po s s ib i l it i e s for r e s earch . The s ema ntic d i f ferential

t e s t can be u sed as a pre and po s t test eva luat ion de­

vic e i n the a f f e c tive domain . I t wa s used in thi s study

to help e s tabl i s h a ba s e l ine of attitudes of non - schodl

poverty youths towards drug abu s e . I t would be important

to r epeat the t e s t with the same individual s ( or s imi l ar

ind iv idua l s ) a fter the intervention o f an education pro­

gram . D if ferenc e s in re spon s e s ( i f any ) could be examined

and eva luated f or app l ication in other educ ation programs .

The - t e s t a l s o l ends i t s e l f to the uti l i zation o f addit ion­

a l concept s . Indeed , thi s type o f f l ex i b i l ity i s needed

s inc e ther� are indic ations that attitud e s toward drug

abu s e are changing .

5 1

B IBL IOGRAPHY

1 . Adl e r , Nathan . " The Drug Abus e Prob l em I s Not a New One , " Drug Abu s e . Berkel ey : S tate of Ca l i fornia D epar tment o f Pub l ic Hea l th , 1 970 , 1 0 - 2 3 .

2 . Al lpor t , Gordon W . 11 Perception and Pub l i c Heal th , " Hea l ·th a nd the Communi ty , ed . Alfred H . Katz , and Jean Spencer F e l ton . N ew York : The Free Pre s s , 1 9 6 5 , 4 9 1 - 5 0 4 .

3 . Barber , B ernard . Dru<;rs and Soc iety . New York : . Rus s e l l S age Foundation , 19 6 7 .--

4 . Bla ckford , L i l l ian S . " Trend s in S tudent Drug U s e in San Mateo County , " Drug Abus e . Berke l ey : State of C a l i fornia D epartment ofPub l ic Health , 19 7 0 , 1 8 - 2 3 .

5 . Blum , Richard H . and A s s o c i a te s . S tudents and Drugs . San Franc i s c o : Jos sey -·Ba s s , Inc . , Pub l i shers--;---1 9-6 9 .

6 . · Blumer , Herbe r t . The Wor ld o f Youthful Drug U s e . Berke ley ; The Regents c;y· the Unive r s ity o f Cali­fornia , 196 7 .

7 . Cohen , Sidney . The Beyond Within : The L S D Story . New York : Atheneun1;1 9.6 6 .

8 . D i l l ehay , Rona ld C . 11Att i tud e s and B e l i ef s 11 in Andi e L . Knutson , The Individua l , Soc i ety , and Hea l th Behavi or . New York : -·Ru s setl S age

--Foundation . . ;

-··1 9 6 5 , 2 9 3- 3 0 9 :

9 . Drug Abu s e and the Teenager : D ia logue w i th Ivlax Hayman . Reprinffrom Vi s tas=-sanDieg·o :--�-irYesa-vi s talios=-­pital .

1 0 . For t , Joe l . The P l easure S e ek er s : The Drug C r i s i s , Youth and So�cie·ty . Ind1anapol i s ; The ·Bobbs ­Merr�ITl comp-ai:;:y,-1 9 6 9 .

1 1 . Gold s te i n , Richard . 1 i n 7 : Druqs o n Campu s . New York : Wa lker and Company , i966 .--.. ·--

---�

1 2 . Jarvi s ; Lucy . Trip to Nowher e : An NBC Wh ite Pa per on Dr_�g Jl,bu s e . --Augu s t ··2·4-;--I97 o-:---�------.-�----·--

5 2

13 . J e f f e , Sau l . Nar c otic s - -l\n Amer ican P lan . New York :

1 4 .

Paul S . Er i k s son , Inc . ; 1 96 6 .

Jenkins , C . Hea l th , " 549 - 558 .

David . " The Semantic D i f f eren-t i a l for Publ i c Hea l th Repor t s , - LXXXI ( June , 1 966) ,

15 . Kerrick , Jean S . " Th e U s e of the S emantic D i f feren­tia l : I t ' s Spec i a l App l ication to I l ln e s s e s , " Health Education Monographs , 2 9 : 37-50 , 1 96 9 .

16 . and Al i c e M . Hea l th . " Mexican American Teenager s ' Judgment o f I l l ne s s : A C a s e S tudy of the U s e o f the S emantic D i f f erential , " Health Education Monographs , 2 9 : 51-58 , 1 96 9 .

1 7 . King , Stanley H . Perception o f I l lne s s and Med i c a l Practi c e . New York : Ru s s e l l Sage Foundation , --1 96 2 .

18 . Nunna l ly , Jum C . Jr . P opular Conceptions of Menta l Hea l th . New York : -Holt;Rhlnehart and v.Jinstcm; I r1C:--, -1 9 6 1 .

1 9 . O sgood , Cha r l e s E . Me thod and Theory in Experimental P sychology . Nmv York : Oxford Univer s i ty Pr.:ess-,-�

1 953 .

20 . __ -------- a nd Z el la Lur i a . " A Bl i nd Ana ly s i s o f a C a s e of Multiple Persona l i ty U s ing the S emantic D i f f er enti a 1 , 11 The J ournal of Abnormal and Social P sycho logy , O c tober�--i 9 5 4 , 4 9 : 5 7 9 �59 1 .

2 1 . , George J . Suc i and Percy H . ---='1:::-:'hc----e---:-M:--e-a-surement o f Meaning . Urbana :

o f I l l i no i s Pie s s , 1 9 57 .

Tannenbaur.1 . Univer s i ty

2 2 . " Pl ayboy ' s S tude n t Survey , " P l aybo� , XVI I , S eptember , 1 970 .

23 . Sand er s , Mar i o n K . Maga z ine , June ,

11Add i c t.s and Z ea lots , 11 1 970 , 71-80 .

Harpe:c ' s

24 . A S tudy o f More Ef fective Educ a t ion Relative to - Narco-t ic s , O ther Harmful Drugs , and Halluc :G-l_"o genic

substances:��ProgEes ���Repor-t submitted to--=-�1:.� - ­

ca l i f ornia Leg i s l ature as Requ ired by Chapter 1 4 3 7 , statuteso£I9 6 B . - sacramento: c a l i forn-Ia'S"tate ___ _

Deparfiuent�oC- Education , 1 970 .

J .J

APPENDIX A

Community Act ion Counc i l s

City o f S an Di ego :

Are a A .Golden Hi l l s CAC Area B Harbor CAC Are a C Logan He ights CAC Area D Emer son CAC A.re a E CAC Linda Vi s ·ta CAC Norma l He i

.ghts-

City He ights CAC Imperial Beach

National City-Lincoln Ac res CAC Oceanside CAC

Ot�y-Woodlawn Park CAC

Palomar CAC

S an Ys idro CAC

Vis t a CAC

· 2 764 Imperial 1808 Logan 2 965 Imperial 3 905� National 1 1 5 1 S outh 4 3 rd 233 9 Linda Vi sta Plaza

3 8 5 9 44th 7 4 7 l O th , Imperial

Beach. 241 2 B , Nat ional City 4 2 0 S an Diego , Oce an­

s ide 1 1 7 Lotus Drive , Chula

Vi s t a 4 0 1 N . Spruce , E s ­

condido 2 3 5 E . S an Ys i dro Blvd .

San Ys idro 2 0 2 E . Broadwa y , Vi sta

5 4

APPENDIX B

SEMANT IC D IFFERENT IAL INS'l'RUMENT

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DRUG ABUSE?

Da te : (No n ame i s n e c e s s ary)

P l ac e : Age :

Sex :

D ire ct ions

The attached �ue s t ions are d e s igned to show a s c lo s e ly as p o s s ible how you f e e l about drug abus e . By drug abus e we mean ·that a p e r s on us e s , now and then , vli thout a doctor ' s p r e s cription at l e a s t one o f the f o ll owing d�ugs :

Barb i tur a t e s Amphe ·l::.amine s LSD

EXAMPLE

Mar i j uana Heroin Vo l a t i l e chemi c a l s

P l e a s e p l ac e a mark ( x ) in the space whi ch be s t d e s cr ibes your f e e l ing . Give your f i r s t impr e s s ion . Work a s quick ly a s pos s ib le . There are. no r i ght or wrong an swers .

The chance that you wi l l l ike spiriach i s :

B i g chance Some ch a�nce· Little· chance No ·cha.n c e

I I · I

I f y ou be l ieve :

I · · · 1 · · I 1 · · · I · · I · · I I

the re i s a b ig chance ; ma�k one o f the spaces under " B i g chan ce " ,

there i s s 6me chance i mark one of the spaces under 11 S ome chance 11 ,

the r e i s l i t t l e chance ; mark one of the spaces unde r " L i tt. l e chance 11 ,

there i s no chan c e ; mark one o f the spac e s under "No chance lt .

5 6

DRUG ABUSE

1 . Drugs are abused by :

Many peopl e S ome peop le

2 . Drugs are usual ly abuse d by :

A few people Almo s t nobody

Chi ldren 'Eeenagers Young adults Middle age Very old psople

3. A boy who abuses drugs is :

Good

- 9

extremely unfavorab le

4 . A girl who abus e s drugs i s :

Good

- 9

extremely unfavorab le

5 . An adult Vi'ho abu s e s drugs i s :

Good

- 9

extremely 1-m favorabl e

Bad

+9

extremely favorable

Bad

------- --- ---------------- - -

+9

extremely favorab le

Bad

+9

extremely favorable

57

6 . · Once a person abus e s drugs , it i s :

Very

easy to s top

- 9

S ort o f

e a s y t o s top

e xtremely unf avorable

Sort of

hard to s ·top

7 . The chance y ou · have o f abus ing drugs is :

Big chan ce Some chance

- 9

extreme ly unfavorab le

8 . Drug abuse i s :

Often

talked about

-9

Sometimes

talked about

e xtremely unfavorable

9 . Drug abus e i s :

Occasion al ly

talked about

Very · . ·

hard to stop'

+9

extremely favorable

N o chan ce

+9

extremely favorab le

Almos t never

talked about

+ 9

extremely favorable

Clean Sort of clean S ort of di rty Dirty

-9

extremely un favorable

10 . I think about drugs :

Often Somet.ime s

- 9

extremely unfavorable

Occas ion a l ly

+9

extreme ly favorabl e

Never

+9

extremely favorable

5 H

11 . Drug abus e i s :

A powerful i l lne s s A m i l d i l lness

- 9

extremely un favorable

12 . Getting hooked on drug s

Cannot be

prevented

+9

Is hard to

prevent

e xtreme ly favorab le

Can b e prevented

wi th a l i ttle e ffort

Not an illness

+9

e xtremely favorable

Is eas i ly prevented

- 9

extremely unfavorab le

5 9

6 0

APPENDIX C

Di s ·tribut ion o f Re spon s e s o f the Compos i·te G roup to Var ious Concep·t s

0) r-1 0) ,Q r-1 ro .g H 0) 0 r-1 H :.> .g 0 ro :.> I J'q H ru � 0)

0 J'q p r-1 � :.> 0) I (l) � ,Q

r-1 ru � � r-1 � r-1 r-1 ru '(fl. 0) J'q r-1 r-1 r-I ,Q P .Q (l) H

County 'Hide ffi .j.J ru +J ro ro � 0 (l) � !-! .c: 1--l (l) 1--l (l) :.> r-1

Compo s ite H .j.J .j.J t:J> O -1-' 0 1-1 ro ru .j.J ·.-I ·.-I :::5 ·.-! :.> ·.-! :.> .j.J '-!-1 .w X ::> r-1 (l) r-l ro ::> ro X � 0

Co�1cepts p:::j ()1 U) !Zi (1) 4-1 0 4-1 !Ll P 8

3 3 3 . 46% 2 . 2 3 % 5 . 95% 1 7 . 84% 1 3 . 7 5% 4 . 8 3 % 2 1 . 9 3 % 100

4 4 0 . 54 2 . 3 2 5 . 0 2 1 3 . 5 1 1 2 . 74 5 . 0 2 20 . 8 5 1 0 0

5 4 8 . 66 2 . 68 4 . 98 14 . 94 8 . 4 3 4 . 6 0 15 . 7 1 1 0 0

6 24 . 6 2 5 . 7 7 2 2 . 6 9 5 . 38 16 . 54 4 . 6 2 2 0 . 3 8 100

7 1 7 . 6 2 4 . 2 1 8 . 4 3 9 . 58 9 . 58 7 . 2 8 4 3 . 3 0 1 0 0

8 7 . 6 9 2 . 6 9 9 . 6 2 1 . 1 5 15 . 7 7 5 . 3 8 5 7 . 6 9 1 0 0

9 2 3 . 94 6 . 56 14 . 67 8 . 4 9 10 . 4 2 8 . 1 1 2 7 . 80 100

10 2 1 . 2 9 8 . 4 3 9 . 64 . 80 1 2 . 0 5 1 3 . 6 5 34 . 14 1 0 0

1 1 3 9 . 2 3 5 . 0 3 . 85 8 . 46 4 . 2 3 9 . 2 3 3 0 . 0 0 1 0 0

1 2 5 . 84 4 . 28 1 8 . 2 9 7 . 0 0 2 5 . 2 9 8 . 95 . 3 0 . 3 5 1 0 0

6 1

APPENDIX C (continued )

Di s t r ibuti on of r e s pons e s o f the Rancho del C ampo Non-School Poverty Area Youth to Variou s Concepts

(J) r-l (J) .Q r-l m .Q lo-1 (J) m 0 r-l H :> .Q 0 m m :> I P"-l H m � (J)

0 P"-l :::> r-l � :> (J) I (J) !>-! .D.

r-l ({j � � r-l � r-l ,..-j ({j

Rancho de l (J) P"-l r-l r-l r-l .Q :=> .D. <ll H * s .(J ((j .!-] ((j ({j s 0

C ampo (J) ([) � H ,.C: l--1 ([) �I (J) :> r-l H . .p ..!-) · ty, o -W 0 i-1 m m ..!-) ·r-1 ·r-1 ::s ·r-1 :> •rl :> +I li-1 .!-] X ::s r-l ([) r-l ·m ::s ro X � 0

Concepts riJ a UJ z UJ 4� 0 4� ril P 8

3 5 18 27 13 5 32 1 0 0

4 9 9 5 1 3 1 8 4 6 1 0 0

5 1 3 1 3 2 7 9 38 1 0 0

6 5 37 2 1 5 32 1 0 0

7 9 4 1 3 4 7 0 1 0 0

8 5 9 5 5 7 6 1 0 0

9 4 1 3 2 2 4 5 7 lOO

10 1 3 1 7 7 0 1 0 0

1 1 1 8 9 5 1.4 18 36 1. 0 0

1 2 4 4 2 2 2 6 44 ?

6 2

APPENDIX C Ccon tinued)

Distribution o f Re spon s e s o f the Boys ' C lub o f C arl sbad Non- School Poverty Are a Youth to Various Conc epts

(J) .-1 (J) ,.Q r--1 ro ,.Q !-! (J) ro 0 .-1 !-! !> ,.Q 0 ro ro !> I

fi-1 !-! ro ,::::: (J) 0 fi-1 � .-1

!>i !> (J) I (J) !>i ..Q .-1 ro !>i !>i o-l !=: .-! ...-l ro (J) fi-1 .-1 .-1 .-I ,.Q � ,.Q (J) !-!

Boys ' C lub s +J ro .!J ro ro f-1 0 (J) (J) .g !-! ,.C: l-1 (J) l--1 (J) !>

o f C ar l sbad !-! +J .!-) tJ'! O -1-l 0 !-! ro ..jJ ·rl ·rl :::s ·rl > ·rl !> .p 4-1 X :::s .-1 (J) r--� ro :::s ro X S::

Concepts rx:J a (I) 2i (I) li-! 0 4-1 r:.::I O

3 8 0 4 16

4 8 3 . 3 4 . 2 8 . 3 4 . 2

5 84 8 8

6 5 3 4 26 1 3 4

7 17 9 5 7 1 7

8 2 9 . 2 8 . 3 2 9 . 2 3 3 . 3 "

9 7 2 16 8 . 4

1 0 5 2 8 16 8 1 2 4

l l 7 2 8 2 0

1 2 4 1 2 3 2 8 28 4 1 2