Abstract

Self-esteem is one of the most important variables and concepts that might have a meaningful influence on Substance users. For this purpose a new valid and reliable instrument which is determined to evaluate specifically drug related self-esteem has been developed in this study. The study was carried out on the 230 male participants in three successive phases. In Phase I, an item pool was generated. In Phase-II, rigorous Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) was carried out to test factorial structure of scale and established its reliability. Phase-III established the convergent/discriminant validity of scale. EFA results indicate extracting three factors including Self Competence (α=.82); Self-confidence (α=.81) and Self-Regard (α= .74).  The newly developed scale comprised of 17 items and has adequate internal consistency (α=.72). The Drug Related Self Esteem Scale (DRSES) is positively associated with Drug-Related Locus of Control. Whereas, a negative association between DRSES and Depression indicates its divergent validity. Furthermore, the result indicates that substance users having internal locus of control have higher DRSES (M = 66.75, SD = 13.53) whereas substance users with drug related external locus of control have higher depression (M = 23.26, SD = 10.56). Newly developed The Drug-Related Self-Esteem Scale is a valid and reliable tool to measure aspects of self-esteem among substance users. This holds specific relevance and importance in enhancing their personal worth including self-competency, self-regard and self-confidence in getting rid of addiction and act as a fully functioning person in society.