Assessment of newly admitted students’ attitudes towards social harm and its associated factors

Introduction

Social harm refers to any sort of behavior opposing the established social values, interfering with individual, familial, and social functioning (Perrin et al. 2019). Social harm has long been at the center of the attention of thinkers in human society. In parallel with the expansion of the industrial revolution and human requirements, deprivations from the lack of fulfillment of these requirements and life needs have caused the widespread propagation of corruption, rebellion, criminality, vagrancy, robbery, social deviation, and other harms (Harari and Legge 2001; Lauer 1998). Social harm, including robbery, aggressiveness, substance abuse, sexual problems, suicide, and absconding from home, refers to any individual or collective action that falls outside the moral framework of general formal or informal social rules (Perrin et al. 2019). Social damage caused by rapid changes in human societies is one of the important topics occupying the minds of psychologists, sociologists, and social thinkers. On the other hand, the trend of social transformations has shrunk the adaptive capabilities of individuals and social groups, among which some social groups are more vulnerable (Collishaw et al. 2004; Ferrell 1999; Ruan et al. 2022), including newly admitted students. Students are among the elites of society and may face educational, economic, cultural, and social challenges during their study period (Ranjbar et al. 2013).
Exploring and identifying the factors contributing to public health and paying attention to the issues of teenagers, especially their health and safety, are of great importance for protecting them against high-risk behaviors and reducing their rate of risk-taking. Statistics show that the most common issue Iranian teenagers are engaged with is sexual ignorance (55.6%) from the age of 6 to 21 years. The average age of smoking in Iran is 16.6 years, and most drug addicts in the country (7.45%) have initiated smoking between the ages of 17 and 22 years (Fathi and Fadavi 2013).
Therefore, youth is a period when a healthy lifestyle, as well as healthy behaviors and functions, can be established. On the other hand, this is also a period when young people are predisposed to problems such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual issues, etc. (Centre 2000; Fathi and Fadavi 2013; Becker-Weidman et al. 2010).
When entering university, students are in the adolescence and youth periods, eras with paramount importance for human growth, coinciding with puberty. The flourishing of the sexual instinct, stabilization and consolidation of occupational and social interests and benefits, and desire for freedom and independence are among the distinctive features of this period, when physical, psychological, and personality changes raise new demands. On the one hand, there is the pressure of instincts and needs, as well as the desire to follow the values pertaining to adolescence and youth, being accepted and assimilated in peer groups, and the pressure caused by the desire to express oneself, to pursue an independent life, etc., and on the other hand, youth and adolescents face the lack of facilities, are vulnerable to inappropriate emotional relationships, their wishes and values being ignored, exposing them to psychological turbulence and consequences such as fruitlessness, emptiness, and incompetence. All these contribute to the tendency toward social deviations among youth and adolescents (Collishaw et al. 2004; Fathi and Fadavi 2013; Lauer 1998; Ranjbar et al. 2013; Evans et al. 2019).
Public concerns over social conundrums are derived from both the increasing social harms inflicted by these issues and the fact that these problems are generally and daily become difficult to deal with, making it necessary to scientifically and precisely explore social phenomena (Centre 2000; Hajian 2011).
One of the fundamental concerns of psychologists, sociologists, and policymakers is the impact of social harm on the youth, especially on university students. This is because these issues affect these people’s personalities in a permanent way, ultimately causing unwelcome consequences for society. In general, both intrinsic and extrinsic factors play a role in determining people’s level of social vulnerability (Hajian 2011; Ranjbar et al. 2013; Tavakolizadeh and Khodadadi 2010).
Social harms are real, systematic, controllable, and preventable phenomena, and the controllability of social harms makes their study scientifically necessary and of paramount importance (Lauer 1998).
University students have recently been known to play a significant role in directing social affairs and triggering fundamental transformations in every country’s scientific and cultural development (Hosseini et al. 2003; Tavakolizadeh and Khodadadi 2010). Therefore, it is necessary to explore the affairs and concerns of newly admitted university students, considering their substantial role in social development as the active force driving the economic growth of every country. Thus, the present study’s objective was to survey the attitudes of newly admitted students toward social harm and its associated factors to help create a suitable framework to prevent such harm in this vulnerable group.

Material and methods

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. After making the necessary arrangements with authorities and receiving ethical approval from the ethics committee of the university, all students newly admitted to the Zabol University of Medical Sciences in different fields and educational levels willing to participate in the research and studying in the first and second semesters of the academic year of 2016-2017 were enrolled by census. After obtaining their informed consent and assuring them about the confidentiality of their information, the demographic questionnaire and the Attitude Toward Social Harm Scale were delivered to the students. After completion, the questionnaires were gathered, and the data were subjected to further analysis.
The data were gathered using a demographic information questionnaire and the Attitude Toward Social Harm Scale. This scale consists of six domains (robbery, aggressiveness, substance abuse, sexual function, suicide, and absconding from home) and 42 items. All the items were scored on a five-point Likert scale from 1 to 5 (completely agree, agree, no idea, disagree, completely disagree). The final score was calculated by summing up and determining the average score in each dimension.
The mean final score obtained from the Attitude toward Social Harm Scale varies from 42 to 210 (the scores of 42-85, 85-154, and ≥ 154 indicate negative, moderate, and positive attitudes toward social harm, respectively).
The validity and reliability of this scale have been verified in previous studies. The criterion validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the researchers of the University of Tehran, and its reliability was verified, evidenced by Cronbach’s α coefficient (or overall consistency) of 0.85 (Aghaei and Taimurtash 2010).
After data collection, the data were coded into and analyzed by SPSS ver. 22 software. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to assess the distribution of variables. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and frequency distribution) were used to present the data. Inferential statistics (the independent t-test, ANOVA, etc.) were used to analyze the data at the α level of p < 0.05.
All ethical considerations were observed, including receiving an introduction letter and informed consent before conducting the study, as well as ensuring the confidentiality of the participants’ information. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zabol University of Medical Sciences (ethical code: ZBMU.1.REC.1394.84).

Results

The results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that the data had a normal distribution. Regarding demographic features, out of 134 students, 97 (72.4%) were female, and 37 (27.6%) were male. The mean age of the students was 19.35 ±1.31 years, with the minimum age of 17 years and the maximum age of 26 years. Also, 127 (94.8%) students were single, and 7 (5.2%) students were married. Regarding the place of residence, 97 (72.4%) students were residents of dormitories, and 37 (27.6%) students lived in their homes.
Regarding the field of study, 38 (28.4%), 33 (24.60%), 25 (18.7%), 21 (5.7%), and 17 (12.7%) of the students studied pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, health service management, and anesthesiology, respectively.
Most of the students had fathers who were employees (n = 68, 50.7%) and had high school diplomas (n = 56, 41.8%). The mothers of 93 (69.4%) of the students were housewives, and in most cases, mothers had lower than diploma education (n = 52, 38.8%).
According to our findings, 6 (4.5%) of the newly admitted students had the experience of losing their parents (4 fathers and 2 mothers). All deaths were reported to be due to natural causes.
Regarding the economic status, 123 (91.8%), 7 (5.2%), and 4 (3%) of the students reported average, poor, and good levels, respectively. Most of the students (n = 115, 85.8%) reported that they had free access to the Internet, and most of them (n = 116, 86.6%) reported no access to satellite dishes in comparison with 18 (13.4%) students reporting having access to satellite TV channels.
Data analysis showed that the overall mean score of attitude toward social harm among the students was 125.64 ±10.90. Table 1 shows the scores obtained in each dimension. According to our findings, the mean score of attitude towards social harm in the dimension of drug abuse was 21.59 ±3.95 among male students, which showed a statistically significant difference compared to female students (p = 0.03). However, female students obtained significantly higher scores compared to their male counterparts in the dimensions of sexual issues (25.68 ±3.16, p = 0.007) and suicide (23.02 ±2.97, p = 0.04) according to the independent t-test.
According to the results of this study, the mean score of the attitude towards social harms in total and the dimensions studied was not significantly different in terms of marital status, parental loss, access to the Internet and satellite TV channels, and the father’s educational level and occupation.
However, the mean score of the attitude towards social harms in the dimension of running away from home was significantly higher among the students living in a dormitory (22.08 ±2.78) compared to those living in their homes (p = 0.046).
The mean score of the attitude towards social harms in the dimension of robbery was significantly associated with economic status (p = 0.02). In this regard, students with a poor economic status attained a higher mean score (19.42 ±20.37) compared to those who reported moderate and good economic status.
Moreover, the mean score of attitude toward social harm in the aggressiveness (p = 0.04) and drug abuse (p = 0.033) domains was significantly associated with the father’s education level. According to Tukey’s, least significant difference (LSD), and Scheffe’s post-hoc tests following ANOVA for father’s education level, the attitude score showed a significant difference between students who had fathers with diplomas vs. lower than diplomas in the drug abuse dimension and between those whose fathers were illiterate vs. those whose fathers had higher than diploma education in the aggressiveness dimension. The mean score of attitude toward social harm regarding the mother’s education level was statistically significant only in the dimension of running away from home (p < 0.05). According to Tukey’s post-hoc test following ANOVA for the mother’s education level, the attitude score showed a significant difference between students whose mothers had diplomas vs. higher than diplomas.
The mean score of attitude toward social harm regarding the mother’s occupation was statistically significant only in the dimension of aggressiveness. According to Tukey’s post-hoc test following ANOVA for the mother’s occupation, the attitude score showed a significant difference between students whose mothers were housewives vs. those whose mothers were employees, but no significant association was observed in other dimensions.

Discussion

This study was conducted to investigate the attitude of newly admitted students toward social harm and its related factors. The results showed that the mean total score of the attitude towards social harms was 125.64 ±10.90, denoting moderate attitude towards social harms among the students studied. As an important part of society, university students may encounter a variety of problems during their study period, encompassing educational, economic, cultural, and social issues. These problems not only can predispose them to depression, stress, and anxiety but also may affect their psychological well-being, further making them vulnerable to social harm. Similar to the findings of the present study, Ferdowsi and Aghapour also investigated social harm among university students, suggesting that some actions could pave the way for implementing cultural strategies and mitigate these students’ vulnerability to social harm, including recognizing various types of social harm among students, reviewing, revising, and monitoring the implementation of strategies, training skilled human resources, establishing suitable cultural institutions, using the information provided by scientific and educational committees and student counseling centers, employing efficient cultural methods, and using social workers (Ferdowsi and Aghapour 2012).
Renzaho et al. (2011) believed that developments and transformations in political, economic, social, and cultural systems, along with moral conflicts between different generations and the lack of alternatives for institutionalized behavioral models, could contribute to the growth of misbehaviors and social deviations.
In the present study, neither the total mean score nor the scores of various dimensions of attitude towards social harm were significantly associated with access to satellite TV channels and the Internet. This observation opposed the findings of Mortazavi et al.’s study, which assessed the association of social harms with media-related factors and found that watching satellite TV channels and national media programs, as well as using the Internet, could share a role in the occurrence of social harms (Mortazavi et al. 2014).
According to our findings, the highest and lowest mean ± standard deviation scores of attitudes toward social harm belonged to the sexual issues (25.17 ±3.58) and robbery (13.70 ±5.67) dimensions, respectively. Furthermore, female students obtained higher scores in the dimensions of sexual issues and suicide, while male students acquired a higher score in the drug abuse dimension. Similarly, Fathi and Fadavi (1378-1387) explored social harms and associated factors among the youth and reported that most of those who were imprisoned during the study period were men, and the most common type of social harm was drug possession, with drug addiction ranking the second among social harms, followed by robbery in the third place (Fathi and Fadavi 2013).
Likewise, Perrin et al. (2019) and Renzaho et al. (2011) reported a significant association between social harm and teaching measures outside and inside the family among female and male students. Regarding sexual issues and consistent with our findings, in a study in Kenya schools, Dupas (2005) argued that providing the youth and adolescents with correct information about risky behaviors with regard to the opposite sex would decrease their perpetration of such risky behaviors (Dupas 2005).
In agreement with our observation with regard to the suicide dimension, Osafo et al. (2011) conducted a phenomenological analysis to scrutinize attitudes toward suicide in Ghana, identifying suicide as an immoral task with profound adverse social impacts. The authors rendered it necessary to provide psychological counseling services to prevent suicide.
As mentioned earlier, our results showed that female students acquired higher mean scores of attitude towards social harm in the sexual issues and suicide dimensions compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, it appears that girls and women should come under focus more often when formulating and implementing preventive programs to avoid the potential adverse social consequences resulting from these issues in the near future. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to gender differences in various areas, such as prevention, treatment, education, research, health, social welfare, etc., when planning and implementing social harm preventive measures.
In the present study, the mean score of the attitude towards social harm in the dimension of robbery was significantly associated with economic status. In this regard, students with poor economic status acquired a higher attitude toward social harm score in the robbery dimension. In agreement, Quarshie et al. (2020) identified economic status as one of the factors that could best explain the variance observed in social deviations.
In the present study, we explored newly admitted university students’ attitudes towards social harms to help plan preventive measures to mitigate social harms among these students; AfkhamiAghda et al. (2016) noted that being aware of life skills could play an important role in preventing social harms and suggested that boosting knowledge about such skills could be beneficial in reducing these harms.
One of the main limitations of this research was the possible impact of the students’ precision, honesty, and psychological condition on their responses to queries, so we tried to fully explain the objectives of the research and win their trust and consent.

Conclusions

According to our results, newly admitted students had moderate attitudes toward social harm. Considering the importance of this issue among university students, who are particularly vulnerable regarding their age, it is recommended to consider measures such as providing mandatory courses or holding workshops to acquaint them with various types of social harm and how to cope with them. Also it is recommended to pay attention to preventive programs, such as holding group training sessions, displaying movies and screenplays, holding student-centered conferences and seminars on social harm, and delivering educational courses on life skills when developing educational curricula and programs.
It is recommended to carry out research at the national level to identify cultural and social harms in students, and other suggestions are to assess the needs and examine the situation of students at risk of social harms and provide them with expert advice.

Disclosures

This research received no external funding.
The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Zabol University of Medical Sciences (Approval No. ZBMU.1.REC.1394.84).
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References