Changes in the community's concept of drug between 1984 and 1988

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Abstract: This study aimed to assess changes in the community's concept of Drug between 1984 and 1988. The primary aim was to examine changes in the dominant category‐member associations of the category Drug. A secondary aim was to compare 1984 and 1988 data on the typicality (goodness of membership) ratings for selected members of the category Drug. It was argued that the exemplar approach to the concept of a concept allowed concepts to be measured both by collecting the frequencies with which particular category members are given as responses to the target category, and by taking ratings on the typicality of individual category members. The associative frequency data for the category Drug were collected from 229 Riverina‐Murray Institute of Higher Education (RMIHE) students and 400 members of a cross‐section (CS) of the community in 1984, and then again in 1988 from 175 RMIHE students and 400 CS subjects. The typicality data were collected from 42 and 50 RMIHE subjects in 1984 and 1988 respectively. Heroin was the dominant category‐member associate in both the 1984 and 1988 subject samples. There were significant increases in the response rates from 1984 to 1988 in Alcohol, Nicotine, and their equivalents. It was noteworthy that the older females in the 1988 CS sample showed significant increases in response rates for the drugs Alcohol and Nicotine, but that the younger female response rates for these drugs were unchanged from 1984 to 1988. The typicality data, however, did not reveal any changes in the rank ordering of drugs according to level of typicality. Both in 1984 and 1988, heroin was rated the prototypical drug, while Alcohol and Nicotine, in contrast, were rated as only moderate level drugs. It was inferred that the community may have altered its concept of what constitutes a drug, and be more aware of Alcohol and Nicotine as drugs, but may not have reassessed the degree to which it regards Alcohol and Nicotine as drugs. It was proposed that the two dependent variables employed, associative frequency and typicality, may serve as subtle, useful measures in future studies of changes in community concepts.