The purpose of this study was to identify the drug abuse status in adolescence and to aid the effective drug abuse prevention program and management and to determine the relationship among the variables, ´conduct behavior´, ´depression´, ´self-esteem´ and ´social skills´. This study was also attempted to verify a reliable and valid tool invented by Kim & Oh(1998) which is able to assess the adolescence´ drug abuse state.
An exploratory descriptive design was used to describe and examine the relationship between the variables of conduct behavior, depression, self-esteem and social skills in a convenient sample of 444 high school male students. Data
were collected through the use of ´Conduct behavior´, ´Self-esteem Inventory´, ´Social skill Inventory´ and ´CES-D´ instrument to measure depression. Correlational analysis was used to identify the relationship among variables.
The results were summarized as follows :
The rate of alcohol use in total subjects was 86.1% and the rate of smoking was 49.1%. Correlational analysis revealed a negative relationship between conduct behavior and self-esteem, social skills and depression, depression and self-esteem. On the other hand there was a positive relationship between conduct behavior and depression, social skills and conduct behavior, self-esteem and social skills.
The results of this study will be used as a basis for further study to develop programs for adolescence. The tool used in this study should be modified and developed more precisely for general use.
Therefore, strategies and interventions to increase self-esteem and social skills could be carried out in the school and treatment setting and appropriate counseling needs to be given to students who are depressed and have a great deal of conduct behavior problems.
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