Rethinking young people’s drug use

Abstract

Reports on a unique five‐year longitudinal study of several hundred English 1990s adolescents, exploring how they make decisions about whether to try or use illicit drugs. Shows how young people make and re‐make decisions and journey down distinctive drugs pathways as abstainers, former triers, those in transition and those who are current, regular drug users. Discusses how official interventions (particularly drugs education) have only marginal impact on a generation of drugwise youth, because they fail to understand the complexities of these decisions.

Citation

Aldridge, J., Parker, H. and Measham, F. (1998), "Rethinking young people’s drug use", Health Education, Vol. 98 No. 5, pp. 164-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654289810229636