Exploring the use and non-use of marijuana as reasoned actions: an application of Fishbein and Ajzen's methodology

Fishbein and Ajzen's methodology can predict behaviour on the basis of questionnaire measures of attitudes toward the specific act and the subjective norms with respect to that behaviour which the individual experiences. In the present study this methodology was used to differentiate between the non-users, experimenters, occasional users and regular users of marijuana in a student population. It is argued that Fishbein's approach enables each of these groups' behaviour to be seen as a reasoned action; also discriminant analysis shows how particular evaluative beliefs and social norms interact to predict and explain the individual's drug-user status.