OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at knowing evidences of factor and predictive validity of a measure of attitudes toward drugs use (ATDUS). METHODS: Participants were 276 volunteer undergraduate students of several courses. They were of a public (94.2%) and other private (5.8%) university from João Pessoa city (Paraíba), with mean age of 21 years old (SD = 3.40; 93.5% were youths, with age ranging from 17 to 25). Most of them were single (91%) and female (65.6%). Moreover a set of demographic characteristics, they filled the ATDUS. It is composed by four item/adjective bipolars (positive-negative, like-dislike, good-nasty, and desirable-undesirable) rating in a semantic differential type scale of 9-points, ranging from - 4 to +4. RESULTS: Only one component was observed according to the principal component analysis, with factor loadings above of |.40|. It showed an eigenvalue of 3.17, accounting for 79.3% of the total variance, with Cronbach’s alpha of .91. Logistic regression analysis suggested that scores on ATDUS significantly explained the condition of to be a drug user, B = .17, Wald (1) = 8.45, p = .004. CONCLUSION:These findings support the evidences of factor and predictive validity of the ATDUS, which can be used to know the potential engagment of youths with drugs. However, new researches that consider large and diverse samples are also suggested.
Attitudes; drugs; youth; measure
