Hello, I'm not an expert in this area of addiction. So I'm not aware of there already being an instrument which measures the fear of addiction in any context. However, one thing that occurs to me, is that you could simply create a SUDS (subjective units of distress score) scale for this concept. Simply ask a client to rate from 1 to 100 how much distress they experience in regards to the fear of addiction. Perhaps then you could use a form of categorical correlation to look at wether or not that was related to if they allowed the prescription to occur?

I am assuming that you are asking what scientific method you could use to assess parental fear of stimulant medication. The ideal process would be for you to use a psychometrically sound test/measure to evaluate "parental fear of addiction." I am not aware of this measure being out there for prescription stimulant to treat children's ADHD.

An easier solution could be to adapt an Expectancies questionnaire. There are alcohol and cannabis expectancies questionnaires that have been well validated. You could see if adapting it to Ritalin, or the stimulant of interest, would help. Adapting a measure takes time and thought and some level of expertise on the subject of our society's expectations on the effects of a substance.

Expectancies are the positive and negative predictions that we make about substances and that guide our behavior. If I expect that Ritalin will help my daughter focus on school (positive expectancy), I will give the medication to her. However, if I expect that the medication will make her lose weight and she is already very small (negative expectancy), I may decide that the medication is not good for her.

Best wishes in yuor pursuit!

Whether parents fear or not regardless if their child is subject to ADHD, a lot of experimentations with drugs are at hand: