Factors of drug addiction among young people (the case study of Tyumen region)

About the authors:

Yana N. Nakhimova, Postgraduate Student at the Tyumen State University; power777_06@mail.ru

Gulnara F. Romashkina, Dr. Sci. (Soc.), Professor, Department of Economic Security, System Analysis and Control, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia, g.f.romashkina@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7764-5566, Scopus Author ID: 16437113600, WoS ResearcherID: O-7221-2017

Abstract:

Drug addiction is a statistically stable social phenomenon expressed in the drug use by a part of the population. The article describes the factors influencing drug addiction among young people. To achieve this goal, a sociological research using the method of questionnaire was conducted in Tyumen region in 2011-2015. In 2011, the sample number was 5567 people, in 2013 — 3054 people (the first study). Additional author’s study was carried out in 2015, it included a survey of 350 Tyumen residents over the age of 18 years (the second study). 
The research shows the extent of the problem within Tyumen region, social attitudes and social factors of drug addiction among young people. The empirical data identifies the youth groups called “narcotized” (with experience of drug use) and “denarcotized” (all the rest). It is described a sociological portrait of a narcotized group, main socio-cultural differences between groups are shown. 
The aurthors consider the processes of “normalization” of drug use. The authors have found the ways of legitimization of cannabis use — 43% of the surveyed young people tried this drug. “Normalization” process include narcotism not in deviant but in everyday behavior. Due to any given social attitudes of youth towards the use of drugs, it is possible to identify and analyze the risks of drug use. It is found that a positive social attitude to drugs is associated with drug experience and social environment. Risk factors are also associated with a low degree of confidence in the future, a decrease in threshold rejection of drug addiction, legitimization of drug use, selective attitude to a drug type. 
The aurthors conclude that the problem is of a high latency, there are no clear social barriers built by the society to counter drug addiction.

References:

1. Becker G. and Boskov A. (1961), Sovremennaya sociologicheskaya teoriya v ee preemstvennosti i izmenenii [Modern Sociological Theory in Continuity and Change], Moscow (in Russian).
2. Bourdieu P. (2007), Sociologiya socialnogo prostranstva [Sociology Social Space], Institut eksperimentalnoy sociologii [Institute of Experimental Sociology], Moscow, Aletheia, St. Petersburg (in Russian).
3. Danilin A. (2000), Kokain, pervitin i drugie psihostimulyatory [Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Other Stimulants], Vrachi preduprezhdayut [Doctors Warn], ZAO Izd-vo Centrpoligraf [Tcentrpoligraf Publishing House ZAO], Moscow, p. 8 (in Russian).
4. Deviantnost i socialnyy kontrol v Rossii (XIX-XX vv.) [Deviance and Social Control in Russia (XIX-XX centuries)] (2000), Tendencii i sociologicheskoe osmyslenie [Trends and Sociological Understanding], Aleteiya, St. Petersburg, pp. 43-44 (in Russian).
5. Zinberg N. E. (2002), Narkotik, ustanovka, okruzhenie [Drug, Set, and setting. The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use], “SPID Fond Vostok — Zapad” [AIDS East — West Fund], Moscow (in Russian).
6. Kravchenko A. I. (2006), Sociologiya deviantnosti [Sociology of Deviance], MGU [Moscow State University], Moscow, p. 33 (in Russian).
7. Pilkington H. (2006), Zhurnal issledovaniy socialnoy politiki [Research Journal of Social Policy], no 2, pp. 229-268 (in Russian).
8. Romashkina G. F. and Davydenko V. A. (2015), Sociokulturnaya dinamika — portret Tyumenskoy oblasti [The Socio-cultural dynamics — a Portrait of Tyumen Region], Tyumen State University, Tyumen (in Russian).
9. Osnovnye pokazateli deyatelnosti narkologicheskoy sluzhby v Rossiyskoy Federacii v 2013-2014 gg [Statistical Yearbook. Main Indicators of Substance Abuse Services in the Russian Federation in 2013-2014] (2015), Statisticheskiy sbornik [Statistical Yearbook], Moscow (in Russian).
10. Becker H. (1953), Becoming a Marihuana User, American Journal of Sociology, no 59, pp. 235-242.
11. Compulsory Drug Detention and Rehabilitation Centres, Joint Statement, available at: http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/document/2012/JC23...
12. Schur E. M. (1965), Crimes without Victims-Deviant Behavior and Public Policy: Abortion, Homosexuality, Drug Addiction (Spectrum Books), Prentice Hall. 
13. Sutherland E. H. and Cressey D. R. (1960), Principles of Criminology, Lippincott, Chicago.