Combining cultural, social and personality trait variables as predictors for drug use among adolescents in Zimbabwe.

A classroom survey among 3061 secondary school students in four provinces in Zimbabwe was conducted in 1994. This paper presents analyses of the relationship between a set of predictors including personality trait, social and cultural variables and drug use. A two-stage sampling strategy distinguished between four different socio-cultural groups. Multiple regression was applied to analyse the impact of sensation-seeking, addictive behaviour of significant others, and Global and Local cultural orientation on drug use, controlling for age, gender and socio-cultural subgroup. The model explained 29.7% of the variance in the dependent drug use variable and the two cultural orientation variables were found to contribute significantly in addition to the personality trait and the social variables.