Ecstasy Use Among Adolescents: Using the Decision Making Model to Guide Drug Prevention Research

While youth drug use isn?t a new phenomenon, how youth make decisions about drug use is. Why would young people choose to experiment with drugs, knowing that using drugs can have negative physical and social consequences? This book will explore the use of the Decision Making Model and the Multi-Attribute Utility to study adolescents? perceived consequences of drug use against the value and likelihood of those consequences occurring. If consequences aren?t perceived as likely to occur, how can they deter use? Ecstasy Expectancy Scale, developed through this research, can impact future studies regarding youth drug use. What we have learned is that young people are using substances and engaging in high risk behavior in search of something. The sooner we understand what that ?something? is, the safer and healthy our young people will be.