Comparison of executive functions in addicted young people who referred to addiction treatment camps with students

Background and aim: Cerebral areas related to executive functions, during adolescence and early youth encounter with structural and functional changes and fluctuations that expose adolescents to many problems including drug abuse. The present study compares the executive functions (Miyake model) between pre-university male students and young addicted people under 21-years old who referred to addiction treatment camps. Method: The study is a causal-comparative research. The sample of study consisted of two groups of 30 male students in pre-university grade and young addicted people who referred to addiction treatment camps (16–21 years old) with coordination of sex, education and public health factors. Data were collected through researcher-made questionnaire and general health questionnaire for primary screening, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color-Word Test and the Wechsler Digit Span subscale. Data were analyzed by multivariate variance analysis and independent t-test method. Findings of the study: data analysis indicated that there is a significant difference between the executive functions of young addicted people under 21-year old who are in addiction treatment camps and healthy pre-university students. In other words, addicts under 21-year old have weaker executive functions to update working memory, response inhibition and set shifting compared to pre-university students. Conclusion: According to the gathered results, it is likely that in addicts under 21, existence of neuropsychological anomalies such as weakness in executive function of response inhibition, set shifting and updating of working memory, resulting in their weak performance compared to normal peers in the executive functions. It can also be concluded that drug use can weaken the executive functions of the brain in addicted adolescents and relieve addiction to improve these brain processes due to adolescence. It is the period of growth of brain cells. Although the findings of this study are consistent with the findings of related studies, a definitive opinion in this area needs further research