Social influences contributing to drug misuse : experiences of recovering addicts

Abstract

This qualitative study aims at exploring the various social factors that have contributed to the progression from drug use to drug misuse amongst a small sample of recovering addicts. It highlights the various family, community, peer group, and work contingencies these persons were exposed to when they progressed to misuse. This study cannot conclude what causes an adolescent to progress to drug misuse. Conclusions regarding causality require much more study on a longitudinal basis and a much larger sample. However, this research project can give secondary prevention practitioners a clearer picture or perhaps a useful indication of what needs should be tackled to stop or else prevent an adolescent drug user from progressing to misuse. The sample consists of ten Maltese recovering addicts attending or having attended a drug rehabilitation programme at O.A.S.I. Foundation. The data was collected by the use of in-depth interviews and was analysed by qualitative techniques. The interview schedule addressed issues relating to the family, the peer group, the school, the workplace and community life. The data collected clearly indicates that authoritarian or laissez-faire parenting styles, poor emotional climate and lack of attachment within the family, and unrealistic parental expectations can all be important influences in a drug user's progression to misuse. This research also explains how lack of fulfilment at the place of work, work-related stress and unemployment can make a drug user abuse substances on a regular basis to escape the unpleasant reality one is living into for some time. It also highlights how peer pressure, lack of knowledge on the effects of drugs, availability of drugs in the community together with low police involvement and enforcement of laws, all can play a part in a drug user's progression to misuse. The project concludes with recommendations for policy and service development and future research.