Cognitive distortions identified with type and frequency of self-reported substance abuse usage
Year: 2005
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The topic of criminogenic cognitive distortions among substance abusers has largely been ignored in the literature despite that studies indicate a high comorbidity between drug usage and involvement in the criminal justice system.This proposal involves the use of archival data from an inner city residential drug treatment program for offenders.Subjects are 129 men referred by the criminal justice system for drug treatment for a period of three to nine months.An investigation using a General Linear Multivariate Analysis (MANCOVA) of demographic data that includes a self-report of the frequency of substance usage, along with assessment of cognitive distortions from the How I Think Questionnaire (HIT) is utilized.Five drug classes (Ecstasy, Alcohol, Opiates, LSD/hallucinogens and Amphetamines) along with four categories of cognitive distortion on the HIT (Self-Centered, Blaming Others, Minimizing/Mislabeling and Assuming the Worst) were analyzed along with covariates of age of subject and number of drugs used.Results indicate that only the drug Ecstasy (3,4-Methylendioxymethamphetamine) exhibited significant main effect for patterns of cognitive distortions and present on three of the four scales of the HIT.Implications for cognitive distortions as reinforcement of MDMA usage are discussed.A review of critical items found on the HIT, normative comparisons, and cluster analysis of drug usage patterns are presented.For the total model, drug usage increases are associated with increases in measured criminogenic cognitive distortions.ii DEDICATION To God "A true measure of a man is not how far he has gone But how high the hills he had to climb."M. Forbes
Author: Robert Francis Dalton
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2595111774