The Initiation and Avoidance of Drugs by Adolescents in the Southwest

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive study of youthful drug use in a rural southwestern community at the start of the 1980's. To this end, we focus on three major concerns. First, we examine the nature and extent of the drug problem extant in the community. The second focus of the paper is on the reasons cited for using drugs (e.g., personal problem resolution, hedonism, peer pressures). Third, we examine the characteristics of abstainers and their reasons for nonuse (e.g., illegality of drug use, physical and psychological dangers, and parental pressures), and compare this group with former drug users and the reasons they offer for their disuse. In addition, where applicable, we link our observations to current social deviance theories in general and theories of drug use in particular.

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