Drug Offers as a Context for Violence Perpetration and Victimization

Bibliographic Data

ID15414802
AuthorsSusana Helm (0000-0002-0114-0991, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, corresponding author), Scott K Okamoto (0000-0003-0638-5354, Hawaii Pacific University), Alexis Kaliades (Hawaii Pacific University), Danielle Giroux (0000-0002-8943-335X, University of Alaska Anchorage)
Year2014
Volume13
Issue1
Pages39-57
Publication date2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1533-2640 • E-ISSN: 1533-2659
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15332640.2013.853015
PMID24564559
PMCIDPMC4260524
OpenAlexW1985231360
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited44

Drug use has been linked empirically with and aggression and violence among youth in national and State of Hawai'i samples. However, the nature of this link and its implications for prevention are unclear. Therefore, this article explores the intersection of drugs with aggression and violence by using the drug offer context as the unit of analysis. Native Hawaiian youth are sampled because substance use rates tend to be higher and onset tends to be earlier for them than for their non-Hawaiian peers. Fourteen sex-specific focus group discussions were held with rural Native Hawaiian middle school students (N = 64). Students discussed what they think they would do in terms of drug refusal strategies in a variety of drug offer contexts. Although aggression and violence were perceived to be socially inappropriate, students nonetheless felt drug use would be less socially competent. Narrative analyses indicated that aggression and violence were thought to function as potential drug refusal strategies. As proximal drug resistance, aggression and violence perpetration served as an immediate deterrent to the drug offerer and thus drug use. As distal drug resistance, victimization served as a rationale for avoiding drug using contexts. Implications are discussed in terms of prevention policy and practice, specifically in terms of a school-based prevention curriculum. Future research in Hawaiian epistemology and gendered approaches are warranted

Aggression · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Drug · Geography · Injury prevention · Medical emergency · Poison control · Psychiatry · Resistance (ecology · Suicide prevention · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Community Health and Development · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Ecology

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