Drugs in Adolescent Worlds

By Julia Loughlin and Barry Glassner

Drug use by adolescents is usually viewed as the result of personal vulnerability to peer pressures and drug pushers. This book provides a new perspective, which is sociological rather than epidemiological, understanding patterns of drug taking in the context of ordinary social interaction. In this social worlds analysis, adolescents' own concerns with boredom, depression, social identity, friendship, access to drugs, self-control and folk pharmacology replace the professionals' focus on deviant behaviour.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312042078
• ISBN13: 9780312042073
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Do you want to understand why kids take drugs?

I am studying a Masters Degree and have read this book as part of my research. I am now ordering it because I want my own copy. Though this book is academic in its structure, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable and insightful read. The world of drug taking and adolescents is filled with mythology and fear. For so many parents the ultimate fear is to find out that your child is taking drugs. Reading this book will provide a deeper understanding of this adolescent behavior. It does not discount the risks or discard the validity of parental fear, but rather provides a broad and realistic insight into the young people who take drugs as part of their social world.