This topic contains a solution. Click here to go to the answer

Author Question: Discuss how peer pressure is a rationale for drug use. Do you agree with this premise? Why or why ... (Read 9 times)

evelyn o bentley

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 564
Discuss how peer pressure is a rationale for drug use. Do you agree with this premise? Why or why not?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Explain social disorganization as a rationale for drug abuse. Do you agree or disagree with this theory? Why or why not?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
Marked as best answer by a Subject Expert

mjbamaung

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 343
Answer to Question 1

 Research shows that adolescent drug abuse is highly correlated with the behavior of best friends, especially when parental supervision is weak.
 Youths in inner-city areas where feelings of alienation run high often come in contact with drug users who teach them that drugs provide an answer to their feelings of inadequacy and stress.
 Perhaps they join with peers to learn the techniques of drug use; their friendships with other drug-dependent youths give them social support for their habit. Empirical research efforts show that a youth's association with friends who are substance abusers increases the probability of drug use.
 The relationship is reciprocal: Adolescent substance abusers seek friends who engage in these behaviors, and associating with drug abusers leads to increased levels of drug abuse.
 Peer networks may be the most significant influence on long-term substance abuse. Shared feelings and a sense of intimacy lead youths to become enmeshed in what has been described as the drug-use subculture..
 Research indicates that drug users do in fact have warm relationships with substance-abusing peers who help support their behaviors. This lifestyle provides users with a clear role, activities they enjoy, and an opportunity for attaining status among their peers.
 Student views will vary.

Answer to Question 2

 One explanation ties drug abuse to poverty, social disorganization, and hopelessness. Drug use by young minority group members has been tied to factors such as racial prejudice, low self-esteem, poor socioeconomic status, and the stress of living in a harsh urban environment.
 The association among drug use, race, and poverty has been linked to the high level of mistrust and defiance found in lower socioeconomic areas.
 Despite the long-documented association between social disorganization and drug use, and even some specific drugs like methamphetamine, the empirical data on the relationship between class and crime has been inconclusive.
 For example, the National Youth Survey (NYS), a longitudinal study of delinquent behavior conducted by Delbert Elliott and his associates, found little if any association between drug use and social class. The NYS found that drug use is higher among urban youths, but there was little evidence that minority youths or members of the lower class were more likely to abuse drugs than white youths and the more affluent.
 Research by the Rand Corporation indicates that many drug-dealing youths had legitimate jobs at the time they were arrested for drug trafficking.
 Student views will vary.





 

Did you know?

In the United States, congenital cytomegalovirus causes one child to become disabled almost every hour. CMV is the leading preventable viral cause of development disability in newborns. These disabilities include hearing or vision loss, and cerebral palsy.

Did you know?

Only 12 hours after an egg cell is fertilized by a sperm cell, the egg cell starts to divide. As it continues to divide, it moves along the fallopian tube toward the uterus at about 1 inch per day.

Did you know?

When intravenous medications are involved in adverse drug events, their harmful effects may occur more rapidly, and be more severe than errors with oral medications. This is due to the direct administration into the bloodstream.

Did you know?

Blood in the urine can be a sign of a kidney stone, glomerulonephritis, or other kidney problems.

Did you know?

Once thought to have neurofibromatosis, Joseph Merrick (also known as "the elephant man") is now, in retrospect, thought by clinical experts to have had Proteus syndrome. This endocrine disease causes continued and abnormal growth of the bones, muscles, skin, and so on and can become completely debilitating with severe deformities occurring anywhere on the body.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library