Study Of Drug Use Research Articles

Psychological Distress and Drug Use Patterns of Young Adult Ecstasy Users: A Complementary Analysis of Australian Datasets

We examine psychological distress (PD) in young adult Ecstasy users in relation to age of initiation and frequency of use of Ecstasy, cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco. Using two Australian community samples, we assess whether different sampling methods produce comparable estimates of these associations. The Natural History Study of Drug Use (NHSDU; N = 339) in 2009 used population sampling and the 2009 Ecstasy and Related Drug Reporting System (EDRS; N = 359) used purposive sampling. Participants, aged 19–23 years, were recurrent Ecstasy users. PD was assessed using Kessler 10 in the EDRS and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale in the NHSDU. In both samples, PD was associated with daily tobacco use and early drug initiation, but not frequent Ecstasy use. One-third smoke tobacco daily. Study limitations and implications are noted.

Young adults' trajectories of Ecstasy use: A population based study

Young adults' Ecstasy use trajectories have important implications for individual and population-level consequences of Ecstasy use, but little relevant research has been conducted. This study prospectively examines Ecstasy trajectories in a population-based sample. Data are from the Natural History Study of Drug Use, a retrospective/prospective cohort study conducted in Australia. Population screening identified a probability sample of Ecstasy users aged 19–23years. Complete data for 30months of follow-up, comprising 4 time intervals, were available for 297 participants (88.4% of sample). Trajectories were derived using cluster analysis based on recent Ecstasy use at each interval. Trajectory predictors were examined using a generalized ordered logit model and included Ecstasy dependence (World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Instrument), psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale), aggression (Young Adult Self Report) and contextual factors (e.g. attendance at electronic/dance music events). Three Ecstasy trajectories were identified (low, intermediate and high use). At its peak, the high-use trajectory involved 1–2days Ecstasy use per week. Decreasing frequency of use was observed for intermediate and high-use trajectories from 12months, independently of market factors. Intermediate and high-use trajectory membership was predicted by past Ecstasy consumption (>70 pills) and attendance at electronic/dance music events. High-use trajectory members were unlikely to have used Ecstasy for more than 3years and tended to report consistently positive subjective effects at baseline. Given the social context and temporal course of Ecstasy use, Ecstasy trajectories might be better understood in terms of instrumental rather than addictive drug use patterns.

Hidden Choices and Missing Numbers

This study works at the intersection of the social construction of drug problems and the social construction of numbers. While others have looked at how the media use numbers and other discursive resources to construct drug problems, this study looks at how researchers select a few numbers from large studies to present to the media in press releases. It focuses on Monitoring the Future, an annual study of drug use among American teens. It examines specifically the choices the principal investigators of the study made about what numbers to publicize during the Crack Scare of late 1985 and 1986, a time when the media were intensely interested in numbers documenting a purported vast increase in cocaine use. It then compares these choices with those the researchers made at other times between 1978 and 2011. Comparisons over time allow us to determine whether the choices about what numbers to publicize in the mid-1980s were unique to that time (and hence reflected the immediate political context) or were similar to choices made at other times as well (and hence reflected routine practices).

Drugs, sex, and the geographies of sexual health in Thailand, Southeast Asia

Sexual health has made its way into the larger agenda of the discipline of geography, as an increasing number of geographers tackle issues related to the transmission of HIV as well as other sexually transmitted infections. A recent initiative by the Association of American Geographers also emphasizes the study of drug use in the discipline. Despite the increased attention sex practices and drug use have recently received, social geographers need to do more to foreground the theoretical insights that can be gained from interrogating the intersections of power and human–nonhuman relations that are part and parcel of these everyday practices. In so doing, social geographers can pry open the debates on subjectivity and everyday practice that currently reside more prominently in the field of cultural geography. Drawing broadly on primary and secondary research from Southeast Asia, this paper examines how health geographers in particular, and social and cultural geographers more generally, might ground their conceptual work on sociospatial identities and subjectivities through a more thorough engagement with the complex geographies of sex practices and drug use. This paper concludes with a discussion of a broader long-term research agenda that interrogates the interrelationships among the geographies of sex, drugs, and sexual health.

Drug use and associated demographic factors of freshman students in a Chilean University

OBJECTIVE: to characterize the student population first enters the Universidad Austral de Chile in terms of drug use and associated factors. METHODS: association study of drug use and demographic variables of 845 students. The self-administered questionnaire contained two main instruments, the detection pattern of alcohol and other drugs (DEP-ADO) and the AUDIT. Partnerships were established using parametricand nonparametric tests. RESULTS: increased consumption of alcohol and marijuana was associated with male gender. The onset of drug and alcohol consumption did not differ significantly according to sex. The frequency of alcohol consumption on faculties has significant differences in men and women. The variables "where you live" and "who lives" was significantly related to consumption of amphetamine and marijuana. CONCLUSION: the main problem of this population is the consumption of alcohol, snuff and Marijuana.

Reasons for Drug Abstention: A Study of Drug Use and Resilience

Despite extensive prevention efforts, recent years have seen an increase in illicit drug use among young people. However, many people choose to not use drugs while they are growing up. This study sought to uncover reasons why some individuals seem to have more resilience when faced with drug use than others. Fear of the physical damage drugs caused, parental disapproval of drug use, and a belief that drugs would interfere with goals were cited most often as reasons for not using. Furthermore, students who had never used drugs had more positive relationships with family and peers compared to those who had used them.

A Three-Generational Study of Risk Factors for Childhood Externalizing Behavior among African Americans and Puerto Ricans

This is the first prospective study to examine the precursors of child externalizing behavior across three generations of African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Participants comprised a community cohort of male and female African Americans and Puerto Ricans (N = 366, X⁻ age = 29.4 years), who are part of an ongoing study of drug use and problem behaviors, and who had a child. Data were collected at four time waves, spanning the participants' adolescence to adulthood. Questionnaires were initially self-administered in schools in East Harlem, NY, USA (time 1). Subsequently, structured interviews were conducted by trained interviewers (times 2 and 3), and self-administered via mail (time 4). The independent variables consisted of the participants' prospective reports of their (a) relationships with their parents during adolescence, (b) depressive mood and drug use (adolescence to adulthood), (c) relationship with their oldest child between the ages of 6-13, and (d) perceptions of neighborhood crime and deterioration (in adulthood). The dependent variable was externalizing behavior in the participant's oldest child (X⁻ age = 9.6 years; SD = 2.0). Structural equation modeling showed that the parent-child relationship during participants' adolescence was linked with the participants' depressive mood and drug use which, in turn, were associated with the participants' relationship with their own child, as well as with neighborhood crime and deterioration when participants were adults. The participants' depressive mood, and relationship with their own child, as well as neighborhood crime and deterioration, each had a direct pathway to externalizing behavior in the participant's child. Findings suggest that intervention programs and public policy should address parental attributes, neighborhood factors, and, especially, parenting skills, to reduce risk factors for the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior.

The associations between early alcohol use and suicide attempts among adolescents with a history of major depression

Objective Previous studies have identified significant associations between alcohol initiation before the age of 13 years and risk for suicide attempts. However, these associations have not been extensively tested using data obtained from populations with clinically significant psychopathology. The current study seeks to extend knowledge of the associations between early alcohol initiation and risk for suicide by identifying the associations between age of first alcohol use and suicide attempts among a sample of youth age 13 to 15 years with a history of major depression. Methodology Data were obtained from the National Study of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a household-based survey of U.S. adolescents and adults age 12 years and older. Results Results from these analyses confirm previous reports of significant associations between age of first alcohol use and suicide attempts and extend previous understanding of risk by using data obtained from a household-based survey and from adolescents with clinically relevant psychopathology. Conclusions These findings provide further support for the implementation, enforcement, and continued support of both targeted and universal prevention strategies designed to reduce underage drinking.

A study of drug use in five urban centres in Kenya

Few studies have addressed the reasons for substance use in Kenya, with most focusing on prevalence rates in school-based and general population samples. None have been carried out among people already using drugs. This study, based on five samples of drug users, aimed to identify patterns of factors contributing to and consequences of substance use; compare socio-demographic characteristics; document help-seeking behaviours of substance abusers as well as their family and social dynamics. Active or former substance abusers (N =1,420) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire format. The peak age for substance abuse was between 21 and 30 years and most abusers were male. Leisure, stress and peer pressure were the most common reasons given for abusing substances. There were negative economic and work-related impacts of abusing substances. Risky sexual behaviour may have been a consequenc of abusing substances. Substance abusers need assistance as most of them could benefit from programmes for treatment and rehabilitation. Keywords: substance abuse, Kenya, urban, peri-urban

Predictors of Methamphetamine Injection in Out-of-Treatment IDUs

From 2004–2006, 439 injection drug users were recruited in Denver, Colorado, to participate in a study of drug use and HCV risk. Over two-thirds were male, more than half were white, and 28% were methamphetamine injectors. The Risk Behavior Assessment, which assesses demographics, drug use, and HIV risk behaviors, was used. Variables were assessed for association with methamphetamine (MA) injection. A logistic regression model was built using forward stepwise method to determine independent associations between variables of interest and MA injection. The study's limitations are noted, and implications are described.

Seven Years Later: Developmental Transitions and Delinquent Behavior for Male Adolescents Who Received Long-Term Substance Treatment

Few studies have applied the "life course perspective" to the study of drug use, a noticeable omission in the field. The current study addresses this gap by examining patterns of interpersonal crime, substance use, and emotional problems over 7 years for a sample of 196 high-risk males as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood, with a specific focus on the role of transitions (living alone, employment, marrying or cohabiting with a romantic partner, graduating from high school or acquiring a General Equivalency Diploma, and becoming a parent) on these patterns. We surveyed youth who were adjudicated as delinquent in Los Angeles between February 1999 and May 2000 and referred by probation officials to Phoenix Academy, a long-term residential substance-treatment provider for adolescent probationers. Males ages 13-17 (N = 196) were given face-to-face interviews at study entry and at 3, 6, 12, 24, 30, 72, and 87 months. Living independently and cohabiting were associated with decreased substance problems. Living with children was associated with increased interpersonal crime. Living away from parents was associated with an increase in substance problems following the transition and then a subsequent decrease in problems over time. No effects were found for receiving a diploma or having employment. It is crucial to begin to understand how developmental transitions may affect high-risk adolescents' involvement in criminal behavior, substance use, and emotional problems. The current study suggests that several transitions were associated with a reduction in problems as these youth transitioned into young adulthood.

Researching Drug Sellers: An ‘experiential’ account from ‘the field’

Ethnographic research techniques are well regarded as a way to elicit detailed understandings of human interaction. They are particularly useful for examining ‘deviant’ cultures and the dynamics of illegal activity. Though, ethnographic research on illegal activity can be ‘messy’. This paper reports some practical and ethical issues encountered while carrying out an ethnographic study of drug use and drug selling among ‘rave’ dance participants in London. In particular it addresses the issue of using friendship to assist the research relationship and the use of a semi-covert style of research. Connected to this, it touches on the emotional work of the fieldworker whilst undertaking ‘sensitive’ research. It makes a timely contribution to discussions of ‘reflexivity’ in the research process, as well as the discourse on social sciences research governance. It argues the standardized codes of ethical conduct can not easily be translated to ethnographic research on criminal activity, such as drug use and drug selling.

Beyond ‘peer pressure’: Rethinking drug use and ‘youth culture’

The study of drug use by young people in the West has been transformed over the last decade by the development of sociological approaches to drug use which take serious account of the cultural context in which young people encounter drugs. One consequence is that the notion of ‘peer pressure’, as the primary articulation of the engagement between youth culture and drug use, has been displaced by that of ‘normalisation’, which envisages ‘recreational’ drug use as one expression of consumer-based youth cultural lifestyles. In stark contrast, academic discussion of drug use in Russia remains primarily concerned with the prevalence and health consequences of (intravenous) drug use while explanations of rising rates of drug use focus on structural factors related to the expansion of drugs supply and, to a lesser extent, post-Soviet social and economic dislocation. In this article, original empirical research in Russia is used to develop an understanding of young people's drug use that synthesises structural and cultural explanations of it. It does this by situating young people's narratives of their drugs choices in the context of local drugs markets and broader socio-economic processes. However, it attempts to go beyond seeing structural location as simply a ‘constraint’ on individual choice by adopting an understanding of ‘youth culture’ as a range of youth cultural practices and formations that simultaneously embody, reproduce and negotiate the structural locations of their subjects.

Social Meanings of Marijuana Use for Southeast Asian Youth

The paper describes findings from a pilot study of drug use and environment for Southeast Asian youths in the San Francisco Bay Area. From interviews with 31 drug-involved youths living in two low-income predominantly ethnic minority neighborhoods, smoking marijuana emerged as pervasive and highly normative. Smoking marijuana provided a means for coping with the stresses of home and community life, and located youths, moreover, within an alternative ghetto lifestyle of rap music, marijuana smoking, and youth crime, as modeled by co-resident ethnic minority peers, with which many Southeast Asian youths identified. The findings indicate the importance of the social environment as well as social status in the substance use of this group of second-generation youth.

A Northern New Mexican ‘Fix’

Sandwiched between the artist colonies and tourist centers of Santa Fe and Taos, northern New Mexico's greater EspaÒola Valley is a New Mexican Hispanic or Nuevomexicano enclave and often considered a bastion of traditional Nuevomexicano culture. Despite the valley's location, this area remains off the artist and tourist track. Moreover, regional and national media sources report that the valley is a site of widespread heroin use. This article focuses on the act of using drugs in a place elaborately scripted by discourses that idealize Nuevomexicano traditional culture. In particular, this article (1) unpacks the conceptualization of culture as a cure for the problems that affect the community, (2) situates the study of drug use in EspaÒola in a wider ethnographic context of drug use, and (3) suggests that drug use provides a momentary ‘fix’ that both reconciles and manifests the contradictions of many Nuevomexicanos’ lived experiences.

International Research and Local Authorities: Interplay Between Research and Police Agendas in the Field of Drug Abuse and AIDS

International study of drug use and HIV derives much of its value from affording investigators opportunities to compare similar behaviors in contrasting cultural contexts. In these contrasting cultural contexts, people entrusted with conducting police work and minimizing crime have ways of conducting their business that may or may not interfere with research on illegal or socially disapproved behaviors. Two cases illustrate interactions between well-meaning researchers and local authorities. In both, investigations benefited from having laid groundwork for local endorsement of study activities. Research on marijuana smoking in Costa Rica enjoyed strong cooperation from the Ministry of Health, but not so strong from the Ministry of Security because of a fledgling office of Narcotics. Studies of HIV risk among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Valencia, Spain, encountered no problems with police but noted dangers of low drug enforcement. Five principles of preparing for international research may help investigators to anticipate some varieties of contextual obstructions to research outside the United States.

Comparative study of drug use among undergraduate students at the University of São Paulo: São Paulo campus in 1996 and 2001

To compare the rate of drug use prevalence and to investigate opinions regarding such use among undergraduate students at the University of São Paulo--São Paulo campus in 1996 and again in 2001. Both studies followed the same procedures of sampling and data collection. A random sample of undergraduate students, divided into the areas Humanities, Exact Sciences and Biologic Sciences, responded to an anonymous and self-report survey regarding the use of licit and illicit drugs within the last 30 days, within the last 12 months and over the lifetime of the subject. The two surveys were compared through the construction of (95%) confidence intervals for the prevalence differences for each substance by area and by total number of students. The Wald test for homogeneity was applied in order to compare the prevalences. High approval of regularly trying and using cocaine, crack, amphetamines and inhalants was observed. The drugs that showed statistic significant increasing were:lifetime use: alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, amphetamines, anti cholines, barbiturics and any illicit drug;last-12-month use: marijuana, inhalants, amphetamines, hallucinogens and any illicit drug;last-30-day use: marijuana, inhalants, amphetamines and any illicit drug. The observed difference in the use of some drugs between the two surveys appears to be a consequence of the higher rates of favorable opinions regarding trying and regularly using some psychoactive substances, a finding that mirrors global trends in drug use.

A nationwide survey of physician office visits found that inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions were issued for bacterial respiratory tract infections in ambulatory patients

Objective Correlations between probabilities of resistance and the frequencies with which antibiotics were prescribed for treating bacterial respiratory infections were examined in a nationwide ambulatory population. Study Design and Setting The data of a nationwide probability sample survey of visits to physician offices in the United States in 1999 were used to conduct this study of drug use. A clinical pharmacologist identified antibiotics prescribed during those visits using a large online database. The participating physicians diagnosed the bacterial respiratory infections. An infectious disease expert determined the probabilities of bacterial resistance from a nationwide antibiotic surveillance database. Results Various bacterial respiratory infections were diagnosed during 6.5% of physician office visits in 1999. One or more antibiotics were prescribed during 51.0% of those visits. The probabilities of resistance to the most frequently prescribed antibiotics varied from 20% to 40% and showed a weak positive correlation with the frequencies of antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusion A significant number of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions were issued for infections with a high probability of bacterial resistance to the prescribed antibiotics.

‘Scripting’ risk: Young people and the construction of drug journeys

The concept of risk, and its centrality to social life, is theoretically much discussed within late modernity. This paper examines young people's drug use and their drug transitions within a framework of risk drawing on findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study of drug use among young people in a Dublin inner-city community. Fifty-seven young people aged between 15 and 19 years, including non-users, recreational, and problematic drug users, were recruited into the study in 1998. Contact was re-established with 42 of the study's participants in 2001. Individual interviews and focus group discussions, supported by prolonged participation within the study site, were the primary methods of data collection. Drawing on the young people's situated accounts of their drug-taking events, routines, and practices across time, the findings highlight the complex social negotiations involved in the construction of drug journeys. Analyses of change in drug use behaviour over the study period demonstrate that drug transitions unfold alongside dynamic and changing perceptions of safety and risk. Responses to ‘risk’ within youth drug scenes were contextually shaped, open to situational revision over time, and, in many instances, drug taking was habitual, not calculated. Put differently, young people ‘script’ risk as they gain experience in the world. The type of calculus involved in the making of drug journeys is fluid and relational, socially contingent rather than static, and subject, at times, to constrained agency linked to social and economic marginalization. It is argued that models of risk that rely on individualistic and rationalistic assumptions struggle to accommodate the fluidity and contradiction that characterizes much drug use. Implications for strategies and initiatives aimed at reducing drug-related harm are discussed.

Descriptive study of drug use among adolescents in higher middle education in Monterrey, Nueva León, Mexico

We aimed to establish the consumption profile of licit and illicit drugs, consumption patterns and strategies for coping and resisting alcohol, tobacco and other drugs among adolescents in higher middle education. This study was based on concepts developed by specialized authors and considered the subject's behavioral, psychological and normative characteristics. The non-probabilistic sample consisted of 325 adolescents. Results indicated that 67%, 65% and 7% of the adolescents, respectively, accepted they had already used alcohol, tobacco and marijuana at some time in their life and that 33%, 38% and 3%, respectively, had used these same substances over the last month; 65% consider most of their colleagues have used these substances; 56% had to reject an offer to consume alcohol, 64% tobacco and 51% marijuana over the last month. On the basis of these findings, we recommend the implementation of a prevention program aimed at supporting the adolescent's resources to resist pressure towards consumption.