Abstract
A primary goal of Juvenile Treatment Courts is participant abstention from the use of alcohol and drugs. The present paper seeks to understand the role of social networks in participant abstention by examining the accounts of peer interactions of 37 current and former youth participants in New York State. This qualitative study found that while severing deviant network ties were involved in abstention in some cases, the dominant theme was the perceived protective role of emotionally close, albeit drug using, peers in supporting abstention. Although most cognitively based adolescent chemical abuse treatment programs explore the role of social networks in youth chemical use and abuse, the findings that youth in Juvenile Treatment Court programs have continued exposure to drugs and alcohol through interaction with their social networks suggest that social network interactions also enter into the discourse taking place within Juvenile Treatment Court settings.
Highlights
Interviewer: Was it hard for you to stop smoking weed? Respondent: It was hard in the beginning because I would always be around it.(Hope, Phase 2, Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS))A common adage within the chemical abuse treatment field is that in order to achieve and maintain sobriety, an individual must “change people, places and things.” That is, to avoid environmental cues that may initiate relapse
To avoid environmental cues that may initiate relapse. How does this adage apply to adolescents in Juvenile Treatment Court settings? Unlike adults who have the autonomy to change their living locations, jobs and communities, adolescents have little, if any, control over where they live and go to school
Delinquent peers have been implicated in initial use of drugs in preteens, with curiosity, external influences and a desire to conform interacting in a complex dynamic (McIntosh, et al, 2003)
Summary
Interviewer: Was it hard for you to stop smoking weed? Respondent: It was hard in the beginning because I would always be around it.(Hope, Phase 2, PINS)A common adage within the chemical abuse treatment field is that in order to achieve and maintain sobriety, an individual must “change people, places and things.” That is, to avoid environmental cues that may initiate relapse. Interviewer: Was it hard for you to stop smoking weed? Respondent: It was hard in the beginning because I would always be around it. A common adage within the chemical abuse treatment field is that in order to achieve and maintain sobriety, an individual must “change people, places and things.”. To avoid environmental cues that may initiate relapse. How does this adage apply to adolescents in Juvenile Treatment Court settings? Delinquent peers have been implicated in initial use of drugs in preteens, with curiosity, external influences and a desire to conform interacting in a complex dynamic (McIntosh, et al, 2003). Affiliation with deviant peers has been shown to predict the development of substance use disorders (Moss, Lynch, & Hardie, 2003)
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