Factors associated with the motivation to use psychoactive substances and the motivation to change in adolescents in an authoritarian context

Abstract

The use of psychoactive substances (alcohol and drugs) by young people placed in rehabilitation centers in Quebec is well documented, but their motivation to use and to change substance use behavior remains unknown. There has been very little research on the details of the change process in adolescents, and even less in adolescents under supervision in rehabilitation centers.The present study aimed to identify the factors that youth associate with their motivation to use psychoactive substances and the factors that they associate with their motivation to change. Twenty-seven young males (age 14–18years) were interviewed in the Centre jeunesse de Montreal. The majority of the participants were able to identify motivations to use and to change their substance use behavior. The motivations to use differed depending on the type of substance and the surrounding context in which drug use occurs. The motivations to change were associated with substance-related problems and with the perceived effect of external factors (e.g. constraints) on substance use. Finally, neither the motivations to use nor the motivations to change were strongly associated with the closely supervised setting in which the youth found themselves. Thus the controlled environment of the Centre jeunesse appears to have facilitated the change process for some participants and had no impact on others. The implications of these results for substance-abuse interventions involving troubled youth are discussed.