THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SUPPORT ANDATTACHMENT STYLE, PERSONALITY TRAITS AND MARITALSATISFACTION DRUG USERS IN AHVAZ CITY

One of the factors that affect the performance and dynamism of the family is drug addiction among the families that enhance the social and psychological problems of family members (Copello, 2009). In addition, drug dependence and abuse are among the most important problems of the present era that havefound global expansion. The annual report of the World Health Organization (2005) shows that there are about 200 million people in the world who are addicted to various narcotics and the numbers of victims of drug users are added every day. Furthermore, various side effects (including mental, physical, familial,cultural, economic and social disorders) of these narcotics have transcended all social and cultural boundaries and seriously threaten human health (Templeton et al., 2007). Regarding our country, the number of addicts in 1997 (2 million individuals) increased by one and a half time in 2001 (3 million individuals). However, unofficial statistics indicate that there are more than six million addicts in Iran (Heydari et al., 2006). Today, governments are obliged to incur high costs to fight drug abuse. Having being regarded as a social and personal problem, this phenomenon has been the focus of specialists in various fields. Undoubtedly, it is years that the importance of establishing effective prevention measures and treatment strategies is obvious to everyone. Having reviewed the research literature, it is known that various biological, psychological, social and family factors are associated with drug abuse (Carr, 1999).This disease has spread world widely and, today, a large segment of these patients are youngsters. Current relationships prevailing in the family, especially the emotional relationships between the couple and their children have had important roles in this outbreak. Living with someone who is afflicted with drug abuse is stressful. An individual who has drug abuse often does such actions that can have negative impacts on family life and family members. As such, all family members of all age groups (children, spouse, brother or sister, parents, close relatives) are affected and they show high levels of physical and psychological symptoms (Hitchens, 2011). Clinical findings indicate that family members who have not enjoyed intimate relationship between parents – children and secure linkage make more use of narcotics (Jessor, 1977).Addiction, as a robust and widespread societal trauma in the society, is a phenomenon affects various aspects of individual’s life (whether consumers or family and society). This imposes a huge cost on families and society.Obviously, the existence of unhealthy and morbid family environments and lack of satisfaction among family members increase their vulnerability to this disease (Helmseresht, 2010).Regarding the past two decades of research in Iran, few scientific research have been published in professional journals and few articles have been presented in specialized congresses in relation to personality traits, attachment, social support and marital satisfaction among Iranian drug users.In addition, despite the undisputed importance of attachment disorders in advent of many psychological disorders, researchers have not studied the existence and quality of these relationships and drug abuse. Conducting such researches not only illuminate the distribution frequency of attachment styles among drug abusers, but also they can assess and evaluate the validity and reliability of previous findings on the role of family variables on the advent of drug abuses. Consequently, this paper tries to examine the relationship between social support, attachment styles and personality traits with marital satisfaction among drug users in Ahvaz city. Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231– 6345 (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at www.cibtech.org/sp.ed/jls/2014/03/jls.htm2014 Vol. 4 (S3), pp. 932-941/Chenijani and Makvandi.