Peers as perceived by drug abusers in their drug-seeking behaviour

Abstract

This paper is part of a major study in drug abuse. It attempts to investigate from the social learning perspective the importance of peers in the interpersonal relationship and in drug-seeking behaviour among a group of drug abusers including adolescents and adults. The subjects included 100 drug abusers randomly selected from those registered with voluntary organizations for treatment and rehabilitation, and 100 non-abusers individually matched for sex, approximate age, ethnic group, educational stream, and neighbourhood. A questionnaire was constructed to collect biosocial and drug-use data and 11 items of them common to those on the official record were used to check the veridicality of the responses of drug abusers. Exact agreement ranged from 83% to 100%. It is found that peers were identified significantly more by the drug abusers than by the non-abusers to be the person they most associated with, and that peer group influence is a strong motivator in the trigger mechanism of drug-taking.