Drugs and Substance Abuse, and Related Social Problems

Running Head: Drugs and Substance Abuse, and Related Social Problems

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Abstract

Drug and substance abuse have been cited by different studies as a major social problem world over that mainly spring from socio-cultural and economic woes and have close and strong correlation with unhealthy lifestyles, poor social relations and personality, and sexual abuse. Most studies have reported close link amongst drug and substance, sexual assault and harassment, rape and conflicts, theft and associated psychological trauma to families, individuals and the society. This study attempts to explore the social problems that emanate from drug and substance abuse and investigates the causes, effects and nature of these problems. The study gives a socio-demographic analysis of the relationship between drugs and substance abuse, and the social ills including rape, poverty, sexual abuse and poor interpersonal relationships that have been established by different studies as well as my opinion on the issue.

Background Information

Today, there are several social problems that the members of the society are faced with. A Social problem refers to a publicly acknowledged condition that exists in the society though it goes against commonly held values, norms, beliefs and practices of a larger segment of population who in process try to eradicate it. One example of a common social problem today that I have witnessed is the drug and substance abuse which has intensified to worrying levels and caused other pertinent issues like sexual abuse, rape, prostitution, poor health, incest, intimate partner violence among others.

Drug and substance abuse have also led to upsurge in anti social behaviors include theft and robbery, damage to property, physical confrontations and fights (Gary, Alan, Farzad, Robert, Adele, & Carl, 2004). Further, commercial sex workers who “exchange sex for money or drugs” are exposed to various social problems ranging from poverty, lack of shelter, incarceration, substance abuse, risk of catching HIV/AIDs, physical and sexual partners abuse and long term childhood sexual abuse (El-Bassel, Witte, Wada, Gilbert &Wallace, 2001).

Study Hypothesis

The study hypothesis relate to the presumed nature of the social problems that are caused by drugs and substances abuse, including my opinion and observations. These assumptions indicate the expected outcomes of the study that attempts to show the link that exist between drug and substances abuse, as a social problem and the various complications, pain and sufferings that come with the practice.

In this study, it is hypothesized that;

There are widespread cases of sexual abuse, violence and other social problems that result from illicit drugs and substance abuse.

It is presupposed that most victims of sexual violence can positively identify their attackers , some who are trusted people and family members yet few come out publicly to report the same

Finally, it is also assumed that all people, boys, girls, men and women are exposed to the risks and social problems that are caused by the drug and substances abuse in the society.

Statement of the Problem

Drug and substances abuse, and addiction are major burden to the society that needs serous intervention (NIDA, 2008). There are several social problems that can be linked to drugs and substance abuse in the society. Some of this problems include paucity and squalid living conditions, imprisonment and confinement in rehabilitation centers , prostitution and high exposure to HIV/AIDs, sexual abuse by partners abuse, rape, sexual assault and long term childhood sexual abuse. Unfortunately, some of these problems are rarely reported while sometimes due to ignorance or fear of the consequences, most victims choose to remain silent instead of seeking treatment and legal redress.

My observations reveal that drug and substance abuse is a grave social problem owing to its devastating effects to the society including lower, middle and upper class people, situation which has led to the ensued maximum publicity, governments’ interventions and formations of international and special interest bodies like United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes to fight the vice. As a social problem, drug and substance abuse affect proportionately lager portion of the society either directly or indirectly. For example, those who use drugs whom I have interacted with experience a lot of trauma, health complications, poor social relations and strange behaviors that may result into mental retardation and death. People under the influence of alcohol have also been reported to further increase social problems as they are normally the perpetrators of rape, sexual assaults, intimate partner violence, and economic woes and anti social behaviors. At the same time, the cost of drug and substance abuse like crime, loss in productivity in USA is exorbitantly high, more than half a trillion dollars annually (NIDA, 2008). This in my view presents a grave loss to the American economy and highlights the significance of the problem of the study.

Consequently, the study attempts to answer these questions;

What are the major causes, effects and trends of drug and substance abuse?

What are the established relationship between drug and substance abuse, and the pronounced social problems?

Though most victims of sexual violence can positively identify their attackers, some who are trusted people and family members, why do only a few come out publicly to report the problem?

Purpose of the Study

Drug and substance abuse have been blamed as causative agent of many social problems that affects nearly every member of the society either directly or indirectly. The purpose of this study is to investigate the stated hypotheses, explore the reasons behind these social problems, their consequences, trends and response, and mitigation mechanisms to ensure that no member of the society is exposed to such risks

Study Methodology

The research involved study of secondary data on studies that had been conducted in the field, existing records, my observation of relationship between drug and substances and sexual abuse, rape, assault, intimate partner and the domestic violence, and childhood sexual abuse. The detailed data was then gathered, recorded and objectively analyzed based on the findings of other studies, socio-demographics and trends of the problem. A qualitative analysis was also employed in a bid to correlate drug and substances abuse and socioeconomic problems such as poverty, sexual abuse, rape, family valences and social relationship and coping behavior problems.

Literature Review

Causes of problems

As outlined in the study hypothesis, a number of factors have been identified as the potential causes of drug and substances abuse as well as the associated violent acts, sexual abuse and other social ills. First, poverty and economic hardships has been cited as major contributors to the drugs and substances abuse and drug trafficking. El-Bassel, Witte, Wada, Gilbert &Wallace (2001) stipulate that most commercial sex workers are engaged in the trade as well as drug trafficking “as their main source of income” and they do have “sex in crack houses” with partners who are prone to sexual abuse. Consequently, there is a need for a more proactive action to deal eradicate poverty and ignorance as a matter of priority in addressing this social problem. However, poverty alone cannot be blamed to a major factor that fuel this problem since some drug users are people from well to do families who later commit the offences when under the influence of drugs.

A notable research finding by Ompad et al , carried out in 2005 reveals that poverty, drug abuse and childhood sex abuse is not only present in different societies but also lead to frustrations, child recklessness and unusual behaviors which are later portrayed in adult life in form of intimate partner violence, rape and drug abuse and family abandonment:

“….mean age and age at first injection were 23.7 and 19.6 years, respectively, 307 participants (14.3%) reported childhood sexual abuse. After adjustment for gender, race/ethnicity, non-injection drug uses before first injection drug use, and recruitment sites, childhood sexual abuse was independently associated with younger age at first injection” (Ompad et al, 2005).

However, a 2007 research done by PCAR showed that 61%of homeless girls and 16% of homeless boys cite sexual abuse as a reason for fleeing their homes, and eventually become street dwellers (PCAR, 2007). At the same greed by the drug traffickers and desire to become rich quick has also contributed to the widespread of social problem.

Secondly, the family structure has been cited as a factor which may lead to high prevalence of certain social problems especially rape. Gary, Alan, Farzad, Robert, Adele, & Carl, (2004) emphasize that family structure may be a major contributor to rape by drug addicts. In their study, the respondents from single families as compared to those who live with both biological parents revealed that they are more vulnerable to these forms of violence. However, this conclusion does not give a verifiable conclusion that can be tested empirical given that the offenders are normally under the influence of drugs and may not be able to identify their victims based on the family structures. However, it is imperative to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of the social problem and the role drugs and substances abuse play in enhancement of sexual victimization, anti social behaviors, deplorable socioeconomic status and attempts to commit suicide. Due to the fact that most of the offenders of these atrocities are people who are very close to the victims and are highly trusted, most cases go unreported while some are resolved at family levels.

El-Bassel, Gilbert, Wu, Go & Hill (2005) on the other hand state that social problems like intimate partner violence (IPV), unequal power distribution, vague reasoning may be caused by drug use. Factually, the drug use would be an intervening factor in this process owing to the “overlapping psychopharmacological, economic and gender related powers”. This also show that drug use may trigger cognitive disruption and limit capacity to establish any social interaction between offender and the victim. At the same time, women whom I have observed, resort to use drugs, when traumatized by the effects and experiences of intimate partner violence as they seek ways of living with the situation.

b). Trends

My analysis indicates that social problems that are occasioned by drugs and substance abuse are ever increasing despite the awareness and ability of most victims to identify the culprits. One of such research which evaluated the violent and sexual abuse of women reported that nearly 94% of the 1,243 respondents confided to know their assailant while seven percent reported either physical or sexual violence during pregnancy (Amoro, Fried, Cabral & Zuckerman, 1990). However, the sample size used may be a point of debate as it may no give a true reflection the entire population. In contrast, based on a survey of 17, 337, a larger population sample size, victims of child sexual abuse, Dube, Anda, Whitfield, Brown, Felitti, Dong & Giles (2000) on the other hand argue that men and women who were abused in their childhood, as compared those who were not, are at a 40 % risk of marrying an alcoholic.

To put more emphasis on the cause and trend of the social problem, the same group also reports that such victims have 40% to 50% possibility of having other social and family problems in their marriage. Another worrying trend that is rarely reported is that both boys and girls are highly exposed to child sexual abuse, though more attention is normally given to the girl child (Dube, Anda, Whitfield, Brown, Felitti, Dong & Giles, 2000).

The findings of Joyce, Ruiz, Millman & Langrod, (2004) also show similar trends. The researchers also argue that the long term effects of child sexual abuse on “multiple health and social problems” are indifferent in terms of gender during adult hood. In contrast, Gary, Alan, Farzad, Robert, Adele, & Carl, (2004) argue that they study revealed that ‘girls are 3.9 times more likely than boys” to be sexually abused. This affirms that though there is need to focus on all the vulnerable groups, a deliberate effort needs to be made to protect the female targets more. At the same time, there are more childhood sexual abuse women today who seek medical assistance on problems related to heavy alcoholism and drug abuse as compared to women in the general society (Wilsnack, Vogeltanz, Klassen, & Harris, 1997).

Effects

Due to the violence and sexually related abuses inflicted on the victims by most drug addicts and substance abusers, several social problems are as a result perpetuated. According to Amoro, Fried, Cabral & Zuckerman (1990), most victims of such social ills, especially the women who are abused during pregnancy, are at a greater “risk of having a history of depression and attempted suicide.” Secondly the victims frequently show signs of depression, rarely happy about being pregnant. As a result, owing to low motivation by the victims to report incidences of child sexual abuse, a history of attempted suicide is normally very high, and there is high likely hood of the childhood victims to abuse their partners in adult life.

The other effect of sexual abuse by drug users may be the counterproductive scenario where “the victims in turn become users of such drugs as away of hiding their emotional problems and social humiliation especially if such an abuse is known by most members of the social circle. Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans & Herbison (1999) also identify the repercussions of drug induced sexual abuse as high occurrence of psychopathology, sexual disorders, low self esteem, and personal relations challenges. Similarly, Wilsnack, Vogeltanz, Klassen, & Harris, (1997) argue that the commonly reported results of sexual abuse at early ages, which are mainly attributed to alcohol use, include anxiety, depression, sexual experience and sexual dysfunction, eating disorders and substances abuse by the victims.

Drugs and substance abuse have also contributed to the spread of HIV /AIDs especially due to rape by carrier who is under the influence of drugs, sharing of injections and engaging in sex in exchanged for drug. According to El-Bassel, Witte, Wada, Gilbert &Wallace (2001), due to poverty, some women engage in commercial sex so as to obtain money and drugs and share needles and sex partners including these who are HIV positive. However, the researchers do not recognizes the fact that not every commercial sex worker is economically challenged as some resort to the practice for sexual satisfaction and due to separation with their partners. Apart from the risk of contracting the incurable virus, these women are also normally sexually and physically abused by their partners.

Relationships

There have been several attempts by scholars and researchers as well as clinicians to strongly relate drugs and substance abuse to most social problems. One of such research was conducted by Swatz, Swanson, Hiday, Borum, Wagner & Burns (2001) found out that together with resistance to medical treatment, alcohol and substance abuse problems have a very close relationship with serious violent acts in the society, even with control of variables like socio-demographic and clinical features of the conditions in a study. On the same note, Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans & Herbison (1999) in their article gives an explicit insight on the relationship that has been observed to exist between physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children and adult life mental health, interpersonal and sexual problems.

There is also a close link between the social problems and family history as well as the environment in which one grows and stays in. Mullen, Martin, Anderson, Romans & Herbison (1999), in a different approach, reports that abuse of all types and nature, especially the ones done under the influence of drugs, are more common amongst those who come from disrupted family backgrounds. El-Bassel, Gilbert, Wu, Go & Hill show that there exists a reciprocal relationship between intimate partner violence and drug abuse, as both increase the likely hood of occurrence of another. On the other hand it is also true that there exists close and empirically verifiable relationship between abuse by a partner, substance abuse by the victim and HIV-related complications, a situation which calls for development of synergistic strategies and polices aimed at preventing and treating the patients, especially the drug-using female street sex workers.

Findings

One of the findings of this research is that there has been increasing incidences of social problems that are related to drugs and substance abuse. Such abuses in my opinion relate more to sexual assault, physical assault, rape, incest, violence, theft and robbery, poor public health, depression and psychological problems and financial hardships. The research also reveals that most of the victims of these abuses not only know their attackers, some who are partners, but also rarely report the ills due to fear of the negative ramifications and occasioned reactions from the society. These indicate that risks of violence are highly increased by the abuse of drug and heavy alcoholism.

Consequently, sustained child hood sexual abuse and history of drug use in the family and immediate surrounding have negative child development and adult outcomes, and work to increase and reinforce the social problems. Summarily, my findings support the hypotheses of the study as it emerged that there is close relationship between use of drugs and substances abuse and social problems which all the sexes an the society are exposed to. However, the findings are specifically clear that the females as compared to males are more prone to sexual related abuses and violence that spring from drug and substances abuse.

Discussion

As indicated by different researchers that sexual abuse has far reaching behavioral, social outcomes and psychological effects if the society, it is crucial that deliberate measures be put in place to “identify and treat all adult, affected by” child sexual abuse, while preventive, security and legal procedures are designed and fully implemented by the relevant stakeholders and policy makers (Dube, Anda, Whitfield, Brown, Felitti, Dong & Giles, 2000). It is apparent that coupled with the poor treatment strategies, alcohol and drug abuse perpetuate social problems in the society and increase risk of violent behaviors in the society.

It is recommendable that a careful and non based broad based approach be implemented to address these issues with due weightiness and commitment. Such approaches may include attempts to reach specific groups in the society through a customized approach, holistic community intervention, integrated mental disorder management and manageable substance abuse management (Swatz, Swanson, Hiday, Borum, Wagner & Burns, 2001). It is also crucial that an assessment vulnerability of pregnant women who either or their partners are drug abusers be critically carried out especially during the prenatal care (Amoro, Fried, Cabral & Zuckerman, (1990).

Conclusion

Since the research reveal that sustained child hood sexual abuse and history of drug use in the family and immediate surrounding have negative child development and adult outcomes, and work to increase and reinforce the social problems, it is my belief that the family can play a central role in addressing these issues. Due to the multifaceted nature of the factors which lead to drug and substance abuse and social problems, I believe, it is critical that workable and proactive intervention and behavior reinforcement programs, on school student’s protection, professional teaching and counseling and community based prevention strategies be formulated ( Gary, Alan, Farzad, Robert, Adele, & Carl, 2004). Such strategies, in my view should address the problem of drug and substance abuse, punishment and rehabilitation of sexual offenders and drug dealers and management of the social tribulations that come with the every problem.

Recommendation for Future Research

It is recommended that future research should explore the possibility of improving the socio economic status of the drugs and substances abusers as a means of managing social problems that spring from their consumption. I suggest that such a study should not only give a detailed analysis of the demographic and regional trends of the problems but also give specific assessment of the nature of the issues by gender, control strategies, treatment of abusers and their victims and their reconciliation. The triggers of close family sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence should also be studied further especially their relationship to drug abuse. Tight control of internal variables as well as study of a larger population sample would also be ideal so as to ensure that the results obtained give a clear reflection of the true picture about this social problem.

References

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El-Bassel, N., Witte, S.S., Wada, T., Gilbert, L& Wallace, J. (2001). AIDS Patient Care and

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Behavioral Correlates of Sexual Assault among South African Adolescents. Elsevier Publishers.

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Running Head: Psychology

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Introduction

Two studies by Argyropoulos et al in 2008 and Lyons et al in 2000 to investigate how a associative reduced risk of schizophrenia in the unaffected cot-win of a discordant pair manifests in other mental disorders such mood and anxiety ones, though had related research methodology have significantly different results. To the researchers and other stakeholders, the results of the two invoke deep reflections regarding the schizophrenia discordant that causes a lot of physical, psychological and mental problems among the victims. The pertinent question is: suppose you were the person with the schizophrenia condition or taking care of a schizophrenia patient, what measures would you put in place to manage the anxiety and depression that emanate from the condition as well as the “detrimental effects on the quality of life of the sufferers?”

The article by Argyropoulos et al (2008) summarily, gives an overview about schizophrenia, a medical condition which causes mood swings and fretfulness among the patients, especially twins. The authors used studied “35 non schizophrenia co-twins in a study that, interestingly, concluded that there exists a strong verifiable correlation “between schizophrenia and anxiety and depression.” The article by Lyons et al (2000, however attempts to establish the relationship, if any, between schizophrenia and mental disorders, in a study whose sample size is 24. In contrast, Lyons et al (2000) found no significant incidence of mood and anxiety disorders in the unaffected co-twin. The evocative outcomes of the studies, despite the limitations of the researches, are very critical especially today where the schizophrenia disorder is on the increase among twins, a condition that is also responsible for mental illness.

Research Designs

The research question of the study was based on the need to explore the conditions that relate to “the familial co-morbidity of schizophrenia with depression and anxiety“, and how it affects twins. Through the research question, the researchers sought to verify whether the prevalence of depression and anxiety would go up in “non psychotic co-twins” as well as the variations that may exist among different schizophrenia’s patients. While conducting the study, the population sample used were thirty five twin pairs, with mean age of 35.4 years; 12 being MZ, 14 Being DZ , 20 male and female. The study was conducted on the twins discordant for schizophrenia against 131 twins from 69 normal, who acted as control in the experiment, twin pairs, where the groups were mixed MZ/DZ in close proportions (Argyropoulos et al, 2008).

On the other hand, Lyons et al (2000) conducted a comparative study on 24 clinically diagnosed schizophrenia twins and their 24 non-schizophrenic co-twins with twins from normal pairs (n = 3327). The study was conducted to analyze the comparative risk of other mental disorders, specifically positive diagnosis of mood and anxiety disorders – bipolar disorder, major depression, dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and PTSD, in schizophrenia discordant twins and normal ones (Lyons et al, 2000).

Research Results

The results of the study by Argyropoulos et al (2008) revealed that non-schizophrenic co-twins of discordant for schizophrenia group, against the normal control group, had significantly higher rates of depression (54.3% vs 26.7%), any anxiety disorder (40% vs 13.7%), and combined depression or any anxiety disorder (65.7% vs 33.6%), Table 2, Appendix. This study, conducted in 2008, demonstrates that co-twins (both MZ/DZ types) of schizophrenic ones are more prone to mood and anxiety disorders than the normal non-schizophrenic population. These findings are very significant in the real life as they point out the gravity of the situation that calls for a proactive intervention. The other notable finding that can be beneficial to other experts is there were no significant differences between the non-schizophrenic co-twins and normal ones in rates of alcohol and drug abuse, mania and individual anxiety disorders, Appendix 2 (Argyropoulos et al, 2008). At the same time, the schizophrenic probands did not demonstrate any significant symptoms of these either (Argyropoulos et al, 2008).

On the other hand, Lyons et al (2000) stresses that Schizophrenia probands have significantly elevated rates of risk for all the disorders under study than the normal pairs (p<0.01), Table 1, Appendix. In contrast, the odds ratio for the co-twins of schizophrenic probands, when compared to the normal, or controls, were higher for each type of disorder but did not attain any statistical significance (Lyons et al, Table 1, p.30, 2000).

This pattern of risk, which deferred form the other study by Argyropoulos et al, 2008, was observed in both DZ and MZ twins (Lyons et al, 2000). In the study’s findings, both diagnosed schizophrenia twin groups and control groups were similar in other possible variables such as age. There is some in