Adolescence and the consumption of psychoactive substances: the impact of the socioeconomic status

Elisângela Maria Machado Pratta,Manoel Antônio Dos Santos

doi:10.1590/s0104-11692007000700015

Elisângela Maria Machado Pratta, Manoel Antônio Dos Santos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-11692007000700015

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Abstract

Recent studies have pointed that it is necessary to define the impact of specific dimensions of the social-economic context that can work as risk factors regarding drug addiction. This study aimed to verify potential relationships between the drug addiction during adolescence and the social-economic level. A total of 568 adolescents participated in this study answering an anonymous self-filled questionnaire. The analyses involved the description of the variable distribution in the sample and statistical analyzes to determine the differences found. Contrary to the common sense, adolescents from the higher social classes presented a significant higher perceptual of alcohol, tobacco, weed and solvent consumption when compared to their counterparts from lower social classes. These data suggest the importance of studies that seek to clarify the possible influences of the social-economic status on the consumption of drugs among adolescents.

Highlights

The study on human development presents several theoretical-methodological perspectives, each of which seeks to explain, from a different focus, the dimensions that must be prioritized to understand an individual’s adaptive processes along the evolution cycle
Psychoactive substances act directly on the central nervous system (CNS) and can cause behavioral, mood, cognition and perception alterations, and can be of legal or illegal use. According to their mechanism of action in the CNS, they can be classified in three categories: (a) depressor - cause reduction of cerebral activity, leading to relaxation, such as alcohol and sedatives; (b) stimulant - cause an increase in cerebral activity, making the surveillance state prolong, including nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, among others; and (c) disturbing - disturb the CNS physiology, which can cause distorted perception of colors and forms, besides delusions, illusions and hallucinations, like in the case of cannabis and LSD[16]
This study shows an increased probability of using psychoactive substances among adolescents belonging to the middle and upper classes, in terms of alcohol and tobacco

Summary

Introduction

The study on human development presents several theoretical-methodological perspectives, each of which seeks to explain, from a different focus, the dimensions that must be prioritized to understand an individual’s adaptive processes along the evolution cycle. The poverty condition can constitute a constant and real threat to child and adolescent well-being as it limits their development opportunities, leading, in certain circumstances, to a situation of affective misery[1]. This is so because economic misery is a potential generator of a series of risk contexts for the psychosocial development of individuals who are going through a cognitive and emotional maturation process, constituting adverse factors related to social exclusion experiences. The different situations of privation of material conditions of subsistence can lead to severe restrictions in the supply of individual basic needs, including affective, cognitive and social ones

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