Retrospective recall of heroin initiation and the impact on peer networks

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retrospective recall of heroin initiation and the impact on peer networks

AU - Best, David

AU - Manning, Victoria

AU - Strang, John

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Initiation to heroin use is an event that is evidently memorable for the individual - even many years later. The current exploratory study assesses heroin initiation among a cohort of long-term substance users to assess the effects of heroin use on peer networks. Participants were able to recollect the occasion of their initiation in considerable detail and were able to recall and describe the peer networks in which they were involved at the time. Initiation into heroin use had had a profound effect on these networks, fragmenting groups between those who initiated and continued to use and those who did not. However, even among the continued users, there was a more gradual rupture, with loosening of social bonds outside family and the closest friendship dyads. Heroin initiation is a critical event that has received little research attention, yet its impact on social functioning is reported here as dramatic and influential in shaping the users' self-perceptions and identity.

AB - Initiation to heroin use is an event that is evidently memorable for the individual - even many years later. The current exploratory study assesses heroin initiation among a cohort of long-term substance users to assess the effects of heroin use on peer networks. Participants were able to recollect the occasion of their initiation in considerable detail and were able to recall and describe the peer networks in which they were involved at the time. Initiation into heroin use had had a profound effect on these networks, fragmenting groups between those who initiated and continued to use and those who did not. However, even among the continued users, there was a more gradual rupture, with loosening of social bonds outside family and the closest friendship dyads. Heroin initiation is a critical event that has received little research attention, yet its impact on social functioning is reported here as dramatic and influential in shaping the users' self-perceptions and identity.

KW - heroin initiation

KW - peer networks

KW - tricking

KW - retrospective methods

KW - ILLICIT DRUG-USE

KW - NATURAL RECOVERY

KW - GLASGOW SCOTLAND

KW - ADDICTION

KW - PATTERNS

KW - DEPENDENCE

KW - MARIJUANA

KW - COCAINE

KW - USERS

U2 - 10.1080/16066350701340651

DO - 10.1080/16066350701340651

M3 - Article

VL - 15

SP - 397

EP - 410

JO - ADDICTION RESEARCH AND THEORY

JF - ADDICTION RESEARCH AND THEORY

IS - 4

M1 - N/A

ER -