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Adolescent drug use motivations were examined from the perspective of Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory (1963; 1968) of human development. The study used an existing data base derived from a sample of about 13,000 Arizona students in grades seven through twelve. Two questions were asked. The first examined the students' self-reported perceptions of drug use/nonuse motivations across the four ego-identity stages of Marcia (1966). The second examined drug use motivational perceptions within the four stages. First, approximately 13,000 Young People Survey (Jones, 1986) respondents were classified into the four ego-identity stages for each of two domains, Interpersonal and Ideological (Grotevant & Adams, 1984), according to rules suggested by Adams (1979). A random sample of approximately 200 of these respondents was then selected for the analyses for each of eight categories: Interpersonal achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion; and Ideological achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. Subject responses to two survey questions were analyzed for the first research question. One survey question had asked the students why they thought people their age used drugs and alcohol, the second survey question asked students who had not used alcohol why they had not done so. The eight analyses revealed that the reported motivations were significantly different (p < .05) across all four ego-identity stages for both domains. The second research question analyzed responses to the survey question dealing with drug use motivations, and tested whether motivational responses discriminated marijuana users from nonusers within each of the four ego-identity stages. Each analysis produced statistically significant results. For achieved subjects, peers, recreation, and curiosity combined to discriminate marijuana users from nonusers (p < .05). For moratorium subjects, it was peers, recreation, and stress (p < .05). For foreclosed subjects, peers, curiosity, and recreation discriminated between users and nonusers (p < .05); and for diffused subjects, it was peers, boredom, and recreation (p < .05). The study indicates that young people use psychoactive substances for reasons which vary according to their level of ego-identity development (psychosocial maturity). Additionally, the study indicates that adolescent drug use motivations also depend upon their experience with drugs.

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of crack use among adolescents living in a large southwestern city, and to study relationships between crack use and marijuana use. This included investigating reasons as well as associated circumstances for both crack use and marijuana use; and whether marijuana use would predict crack use. High school seniors (N = 269) were asked to disclose information about their marijuana (and hashish) use and non-use, and crack use and non-use. Preliminary computation of the results revealed only 2.6% of respondents indicating crack use; thus statistical analysis of that data was not warranted. Computation of the results indicated 34% of respondents reporting marijuana use; therefore, the focus of the study shifted to marijuana exclusively, resulting in a final sample size of n = 92. Two specific phenomena were investigated: crack use and marijuana use. Discriminant analysis of the data was performed to (1) measure differences in frequencies (indicated as "seldom" and "occasionally") of respondents' marijuana use a predicted by particular circumstances and reasons for its use; and (2) to measure whether students' marijuana use would predict crack use. Statistical significance using Chi square and canonical correlation was calculated for each set of variables. Chi square (5) = 46.10 yielded significance (p <.001) for five of nine circumstances as predictors of marijuana use: "At a party" was the best discriminating variable. Chi square (4) = 36.73 yielded significance (p <.001) for four of thirteen reasons as predictors of marijuana use; "To get high" was the best discriminating reasons variable. The study succeeded in determining several drug-related attributions: (1) there is one-third less prevalence of crack use among adolescents in the area being researched than is reported nationally; (2) there is about the same prevalence of marijuana use as nationally reported; (3) there are specific associated circumstances which predict frequency of marijuana use; and (4) there are specific associated reasons which predict frequency of marijuana use. Finally, although it is not data-based, marijuana appears to be a predictor of crack use, i.e., all seven crack users reported having used marijuana prior to crack use.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Substance abuse is a major social problem with far-reaching implications. Substance abuse is a critical problem in South Africa and across all segments of the population and in some way, impacts on all members of our society. The challenge is to explain why people engage in behaviours that they know will harm them. The aim of the study was to understand how people came to abuse substances, by exploring the factors that contribute to substance abuse by recovering service users at Newlands Park Rehabilitation Centre. The ecosystems perspective was used to guide the study. The study used an exploratory design as it attempted to explore new insights into factors contributing to substance abuse by service uses at Newlands Park Rehabilitation Centre. A qualitative research was used to understand the reasons that govern this behavior. Convenience sampling was used as a sampling technique. Ten participants were selected from a group of twenty service users that were in their last week of the rehabilitation program at Newlands Park Rehabilitation Centre. Semi-structured interviews were used as a primary technique for data collection. The data was analyzed thematically. The findings of the study reveal that there are several factors that led respondents’ to abuse substances. These are intrapersonal factors that both initiated and maintained the abuse of substances by respondents. The results from the study also show interpersonal and environmental factors that contributed to respondents’ abuse of substances. It is recommended that prevention and treatment programs for substance abuse take account of intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental factors that contribute to substance abuse. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Research on the determinants of injection drug use behavior has traditionally concentrated on factors operating at the individual level. However, more recent studies have found that behaviors surrounding injection drug use are shaped, not only by individual-level characteristics, but also by the environment in which they occur. The risk environment paradigm, proposed by Rhodes and colleagues, describes how factors exogenous to the individual influence high-risk injection behavior and blood borne virus (BBV) transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID). To date, few elements of the risk environment have been evaluated as potential determinants of high-risk injection behavior. The purpose of this dissertation was to study the influence of two elements of the risk environment on unsafe injection practices among PWID – neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social discomfort surrounding the acquisition of sterile syringes from syringe exchange programs (SEPs) and pharmacies. To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted on the relation between neighborhood context and injection drug use behavior. Research gaps and methodological challenges identified in this review were used to design analyses exploring relations among neighborhood disadvantage, social discomfort, and high-risk injection behavior. These analyses were conducted using data collected from 484 PWID enrolled in the Pharmacists as Resources Making Links to Community Services (PHARM-Link) study, combined with data from the American Community Survey. Poisson regression with robust error variance was used to estimate associations between measures of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk injection behavior. SEP accessibility and drug-related police activity were evaluated as potential modifiers of these relations. Similar methods were used to estimate associations between measures of social discomfort and high-risk injection behavior, including neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage as a potential effect modifier. The systematic literature review on neighborhood context and injection drug use behavior identified few articles pertaining to this relation (n=22). Selected studies primarily investigated the influence of structural aspects of the neighborhood environment on behaviors surrounding injection drug use, while aspects of the social environment and potential modifiers of neighborhood-behavior relations were understudied. Subsequent quantitative analyses revealed that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with safer injection behaviors among PWID. Injectors in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported less receptive syringe sharing and less unsterile syringe use than their counterparts in relatively better off neighborhoods. Drug-related police activity attenuated associations between neighborhood disadvantage and unsterile syringe use, while the direction of associations between neighborhood disadvantage and the use of unsafe syringe sources varied with levels of SEP accessibility. In neighborhoods with high SEP accessibility, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with decreased use of unsafe syringe sources, while in neighborhoods with low SEP accessibility, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with increased use of unsafe syringe sources. Social discomfort was not associated with high-risk injection behavior, but effect modification was detected between neighborhood disadvantage and two items measuring the quality of relationships between participants and syringe staff: “Pharmacists care about my health and well-being” and “The staff at syringe exchange programs seems to care about my health and well-being.” In disadvantaged neighborhoods, participants who reported positive relationships with syringe staff were less likely to engage in receptive syringe sharing. However, in relatively better off neighborhoods, positive relationships with syringe staff were associated with increased receptive syringe sharing. Overall, the results of this dissertation support the validity of the risk environment paradigm in shaping high-risk injection behavior among PWID. Future studies should continue to investigate contextual factors as determinants of behavior surrounding injection drug use. Understanding how aspects of local-area environments influence injection risk behavior will be essential to eliminating the transmission of BBVs among PWID.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral pesquisar o sentido da experiência de usuários de crack no contexto político/social contemporâneo e como objetivos específicos: compreender os sentidos produzidos pelos usuários de crack em suas experiências com essa droga e analisar o contexto político/social em que ocorre a experiência de uso do crack. A metodologia foi de natureza qualitativa, a partir da perspectiva fenomenológica existencial e política/social. Em um primeiro momento fizemos uma análise documental em textos produzidos pela imprensa escrita nos anos 2012/2013. Procuramos analisar a concepção de uso, dependência, sentido/significado, além dos aspectos políticos/sociais implicados no uso de crack. Em outro momento, utilizando como instrumento a narrativa a partir de Walter Benjamin, com pergunta disparadora, entrevistamos seis usuários de crack, que discursaram livremente sobre sua experiência com essa substância. Os sujeitos participantes foram selecionados a partir de consultórios particulares de médicos e/ou psicólogos, além de agentes redutores de danos. A amostra foi, portanto, intencional, e não buscou generalizações das experiências. Foi solicitada aos profissionais que colaboraram na seleção da amostra a observação de vários modos de uso: ocasional, recreativo e dependência, que pode ser: leve, moderada e grave. Acreditamos que cada um desses modos implica na inserção social do usuário e, portanto traz questões políticas. A pesquisadora tomou como postura, ao dirigir-se ao campo, a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer, de diálogo constante com os textos e sujeitos participantes. A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da obra de Arendt em seu aspecto político/social. / This work aimed to study the meaning of the experience of crack/cocaine users in contemporary political/social context. We had planned our research in direction of the followed specific objectives: create an understanding of the meanings produced by crack/cocaine users on his/her experiences with this substance; analyze the political/social context in which their crack/cocaine experiences occurs; and propose perspectives of attention to the crack/cocaine user considering the meaning and the social/political context. The methodology was qualitative from the existential phenomenological perspective. At first, we made a documentary analysis of the newspaper texts produced in years 2012/2013. We analyzed the design of use, dependence, sense/meaning, beyond those involved in the political/social use of crack/cocaine aspects. Second, applying the narrative of Walter Benjamin and utilizing a prompt ask, we interviewed six crack/cocaine users who spoke freely about their experience with the substance. The subjects were selected from the private practices of physicians and/or psychologists, as well as harm reduction agents. Choose of the sample was therefore intentional, and not directed to generalizations of the experiences. Professionals collaborate in the selection observing the distinct modes of use: casual, recreational and dependence, this last that could be mild, moderate and severe. We considered that each of these modes implies the social integration of the user and therefore could emerge political issues. The researcher took as posture a constant dialogue with the texts and study subjects, to this, addressing the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer. Data analysis were performed based on the work of Arendt in his political/social aspect.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 armida_portela_albuquerque_lima.pdf: 269529 bytes, checksum: e80232a8b2f2cf45a4e25e98335e93b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-04 / This work aimed to study the meaning of the experience of crack/cocaine users in contemporary political/social context. We had planned our research in direction of the followed specific objectives: create an understanding of the meanings produced by crack/cocaine users on his/her experiences with this substance; analyze the political/social context in which their crack/cocaine experiences occurs; and propose perspectives of attention to the crack/cocaine user considering the meaning and the social/political context. The methodology was qualitative from the existential phenomenological perspective. At first, we made a documentary analysis of the newspaper texts produced in years 2012/2013. We analyzed the design of use, dependence, sense/meaning, beyond those involved in the political/social use of crack/cocaine aspects. Second, applying the narrative of Walter Benjamin and utilizing a prompt ask, we interviewed six crack/cocaine users who spoke freely about their experience with the substance. The subjects were selected from the private practices of physicians and/or psychologists, as well as harm reduction agents. Choose of the sample was therefore intentional, and not directed to generalizations of the experiences. Professionals collaborate in the selection observing the distinct modes of use: casual, recreational and dependence, this last that could be mild, moderate and severe. We considered that each of these modes implies the social integration of the user and therefore could emerge political issues. The researcher took as posture a constant dialogue with the texts and study subjects, to this, addressing the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer. Data analysis were performed based on the work of Arendt in his political/social aspect. / Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral pesquisar o sentido da experiência de usuários de crack no contexto político/social contemporâneo e como objetivos específicos: compreender os sentidos produzidos pelos usuários de crack em suas experiências com essa droga e analisar o contexto político/social em que ocorre a experiência de uso do crack. A metodologia foi de natureza qualitativa, a partir da perspectiva fenomenológica existencial e política/social. Em um primeiro momento fizemos uma análise documental em textos produzidos pela imprensa escrita nos anos 2012/2013. Procuramos analisar a concepção de uso, dependência, sentido/significado, além dos aspectos políticos/sociais implicados no uso de crack. Em outro momento, utilizando como instrumento a narrativa a partir de Walter Benjamin, com pergunta disparadora, entrevistamos seis usuários de crack, que discursaram livremente sobre sua experiência com essa substância. Os sujeitos participantes foram selecionados a partir de consultórios particulares de médicos e/ou psicólogos, além de agentes redutores de danos. A amostra foi, portanto, intencional, e não buscou generalizações das experiências. Foi solicitada aos profissionais que colaboraram na seleção da amostra a observação de vários modos de uso: ocasional, recreativo e dependência, que pode ser: leve, moderada e grave. Acreditamos que cada um desses modos implica na inserção social do usuário e, portanto traz questões políticas. A pesquisadora tomou como postura, ao dirigir-se ao campo, a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer, de diálogo constante com os textos e sujeitos participantes. A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da obra de Arendt em seu aspecto político/social.

No description available.