Thesis Title: Stigmatization, Apathy and Social Withdrawal in Drug Addicts
Student Name: Rukhsar Sakhawat
Supervisor: Shahnila Tariq, PhD
Degree: BS
Year: 2014-2018
Department: Institute of Applied Psychology
University: Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
Abstract
The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between stigmatization, apathy and social withdrawal in drug addicts. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant relationship between stigmatization, apathy and social withdrawal. The sample N = 100 comprised of men drug addicts with the age range of 20 to 30 years selected via purposive sampling technique from government hospitals and private clinics of Lahore. Data were collected through Perceived Stigma of Substance Abuse Scale (Link et al., 1997). Addicts’ apathy was measured by using Apathy Evaluation Scale (Marin, 1991). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1978) was used for measuring social withdrawal in drug addicts. Pearson product moment correlation showed that stigmatization, apathy has significant positive relationship with social withdrawal. Hierarchical regression indicated that stigmatization and apathy predict social withdrawal and independent sample t-test showed that there is a demographical difference in levels of education, residential, relapse and addict family member in stigmatization, apathy and social withdrawal in male drug addicts. The study laid grounds for the insight that stigmatization and apathy are the biggest obstacles to a life away from addiction and can foster social withdrawal.
Keywords: Stigmatization, apathy, social withdrawal.
