Cognitive Abilities among Young Substance Abusers and Non-users of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The present study was undertaken with the purpose of measuring the verbal intelligence, nonverbal intelligence and memory among substance abusers and non-users. The objective was also to evaluate how intelligence and memory varies among the selected sample of young substance abusers and non-users. The study was conducted on 50 individuals for each category i.e. substance abusers and non-users. Thus, a total sample of 100 persons was selected in the age group of 20 to 25 years. The General Mental Ability Test for adults (GMAT) developed by Jalota and Tandon (1971) was administered to measure the verbal intelligence; Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) developed by Raven (1936) was used to measure the non-verbal intelligence and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)-digit span designed by Wechsler (1955) was administered to measure memory of the selected sample. Ttest was carried out to see the significance of difference between substance abusers and nonusers on intelligence and memory. The results indicated that verbal intelligence, non-verbal intelligence and memory among non-users were significantly higher as compared to the substance abusers.