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Supplement to Pathways to High-Risk
Drug Abuse Among Urban Youth: Club Drugs
Research Method:
Basic Research
Principal Investigators:
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D. (PI)
Grant:
National Institute on Drug Abuse
OAR Supplement (DA-11421-02S1)
Dates of Study:
2000-2002
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Abstract
The study "Pathways to High-Risk
Drug Abuse Among Urban Youth" indicates the emerging
use of "club" or "designer" drugs (e.g.,
ecstasy, ketamine, other amphetamines, GHB and cocaine) among
a mix of multiethnic urban, suburban and college youth and young
adults, all with a range of sexual experience and preference.
The study also indicates that designer drug use occurs at regular
or after-hour clubs or at other social events, such as raves
and house parties, that facilitate drug use. Little research
has been conducted on the diffusion of, and sex and health risks
associated to, the increase in club and designer drug use among
urban youth. This supplemental study documents the psychosocial
and cultural contexts of club drug use in Hartford, CT, the
social networks and environments that facilitate the diffusion
of these drugs into the urban environment, and the impact on
sexual risk among the city's youth population. |
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Project
Goals and Objectives
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Understand and document
the social contexts (e.g., regular and after-hours
clubs, raves, house parties) in which designer drugs
are entering the urban environment, and that heighten
the potential for forming new relationships and
impacting sexual behavior and risks. |
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Describe the psychological
and social contexts and meanings associated with
the use of club and designer drugs as compared to
traditional drug use. |
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Describe the diffusion
and dissemination patterns of these drugs amongst
urban youth. |
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Describe the sexual behavior
and HIV risks associated with the use of designer
and club drugs. |
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Utilize the information
to create drug and HIV prevention strategies aimed
at club drug users and their networks. |
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Project Contact:
Jean
J. Schensul, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Executive Director
Project Staff:
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D.,
Principal Investigator
Mark Convey, M.A.,
Research Assistant
Julie Eiserman, M.A., Ethnographer (Hispanic Health
Council)
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Project
Details
Focused on a number of clubs in the Hartford
area, the project used a combination of methods (participant
observation, informal and in-depth interviews, survey) for data
collection. Staff conducted 25 in-depth interviews, and administered
207 surveys to club-goers, workers and other youth. Study results
show an increase in regular use of ecstasy and other club drugs
among the urban youth population. Regular and after-hours clubs
create a culture of drug use through marketing of music, fashion
and entertainment. This culture gives club goers the sense of
a "safe space" to buy and use designer drugs; observation
and interviews also suggest that club owners/workers often designate
who is able to sell in the club, making the drug market an extension
of the club's "business." With respect to ecstasy
and other club drug use and sexual risk, participants in the
study indicated that the use of designer drugs affected their
willingness to have sex, increased the number of sexual encounters,
the number of sex partners, and the types of risky sexual experimentation
engaged in, suggesting the potential for an increased risk for
HIV, STD transmission and other associated health problems for
this population. Results from this study provided the foundation
for the five-year study, "Urban
Lifestyles", launched in October 2001.
View findings from this project |
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Link
to Research Methods page
Link
to Basic Research Methods page
Links to other ICR projects:
Pathways
to High-Risk Drug Abuse Among Urban Youth
Urban Lifestyles: Club Drugs,
Resource Inequities and Health Risks in Urban Youth
Minority Supplement to Pathways
to High-Risk Drug Abuse Among Urban Youth
Papers and Presentations
Eiserman, J., Schensul, J., Pino, R., Burkholder, G., Singer,
M. The Influence of MDMA on Sex Behavior of Urban Youth and
Young Adults. Special session entitled Dancing with Drugs,
organized by Jean J. Schensul and Merrill Singer, held at
the Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Merida,
Mexico, 2001.
Huebner, C., Singer, M., Schensul, J., Eiserman,
J., Burkholder, G. Urban Youth, "Club Drugs", and
Party Culture. Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting,
Merida, Mexico, 2001.
Schensul, J., Singer, M. Dancing with Drugs:
Urban Youth, Club Drugs and Sex Risk. Society for Applied
Anthropology Annual Meeting, Merida, Mexico, 2001.
Pino, R., Burkholder, G., Schensul, J. Self-Reported
STIs in Urban Youth Networks: A Call for Research and Intervention.
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, 2001.
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