Illicit drug use in the army: A social-organizational analysis

Abstract

Attempted to identify relationships between certain facets of the social environment of military units and the reported level of illicit drug use in the units. Two instruments were developed for the study, an anonymous self-report drug use questionnaire and a drug abuse prevalence index. From a total of 398 units ( N = 17,143) surveyed on drug use, 3,284 enlisted men in 31 high- and low-use units located in Korea, the US, and Germany were surveyed on the quality of the social environment. Several dimensions of the social and organizational environment were significantly related to illicit drug use, including opinion of officers, job satisfaction, opinion of the army, and morale. (29 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)