Factors influencing drug abuse in Madrid, Spain.

The relationship between reasons for drug use and age, gender, quality of family life, and religiosity was assessed in a population of 32 participants in a drug rehab center in Madrid Spain. Participants were young adults whose primary drugs of choice were heroin and cocaine. Quality of family life was assessed by the participants’ self-response to the question concerning family conflict and one concerning closeness to parents. Religiosity was measured by the participants’ self-description of personal religiosity and spirituality. Discriminant function analysis was used to determine the degree to which each of these factors influenced a client’s reason for drug consumption. Gender was found to have an effect on stated reason for using drugs. There was a further distinction between the reasons a client chose for using drugs and his or her age. It was also determined that clients who chose "much stress and many problems in my life" as their primary reason for using drugs tended to have problems with both heroin and cocaine and not one or the other. Implications of the results are discussed within the context of the Spanish Population.