Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Bukky, Molly
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2017
Subjects:	Sociology
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1491988076561329

id	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu1491988076561329
record_format	oai_dc
spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu14919880765613292021-08-03T07:01:32Z Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories Bukky, Molly Sociology Despite the long-standing efforts of the war on drugs, drug abuse continues to be a significant social problem in the United States. Understanding the roots of these problems and the mechanisms through which they are transmitted is critical if we hope to find solutions. Drug use behaviors often debut in adolescence and, because the brain is still developing, adolescents are at greater risk than adults for developing addiction problems, which may lead to persistent drug abuse behaviors in adulthood. Three classic criminological theories are often used to explain adolescent drug use behaviors. These theories include strain theory, which proposes that when stress accumulates, especially over a relatively short time, it can increase the propensity towards drug use. Social learning theory is the next theory and it indicates that we learn drug use behaviors from those who we spend the most time around, including our family, close friends and neighbors. Social control theory is the final theory and it proposes that when adolescents have strong bonds with family, friends and the community, they are less likely to use drugs but when those bonds are weak, they are more likely to use drugs. These theories have typically focused on marijuana and other illicit drugs and primarily focused on urban residents. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, new trends in drug use attitudes and behaviors have emerged, especially the increased prevalence of prescription drug misuse and the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana and it is therefore important to explore whether these classic theories continue to hold up considering these new trends. The 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is used to compare the consistency of measures of strain theory, social learning theory and social control theory in predicting adolescent marijuana use, prescription drug misuse and illicit drug use and to explore the similarities and differences for adolescents in rural and urban areas. Results indicate that measures of social learning theory have the most consistent propensity for predicting the probability of both urban and rural adolescent drug use for each category. Measures of social control theory also consistently estimate adolescent drug use and there is a significant difference in outcomes for urban and rural adolescents. Additionally, traditional social controls are less successful at preventing adolescent prescription drug misuse compared to marijuana and illicit drugs. Finally, measures of strain theory provide the least consistent propensity to estimate adolescent drug use but there is a significant difference in this capacity for urban and rural adolescents. 2017-07-28 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1491988076561329 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1491988076561329 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Sociology
spellingShingle	Sociology Bukky, Molly Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
author	Bukky, Molly
author_facet	Bukky, Molly
author_sort	Bukky, Molly
title	Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
title_short	Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
title_full	Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
title_fullStr	Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
title_full_unstemmed	Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories
title_sort	urban and rural adolescent drug use and its relationship with classic criminological theories
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2017
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1491988076561329
work_keys_str_mv	AT bukkymolly urbanandruraladolescentdruguseanditsrelationshipwithclassiccriminologicaltheories
_version_	1719451949411074048

Urban and Rural Adolescent Drug use and its Relationship with Classic Criminological Theories

Similar Items