An Investigation Into the Social Profiles of Drug-Addicted Adolescents in Turkey


Okudan Soyal T., Aydın Dalarslan G.

Current Addiction Reports, vol.9, no.3, pp.151-162, 2022 (SSCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Review
  • Volume: 9 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s40429-022-00426-7
  • Journal Name: Current Addiction Reports
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.151-162
  • Keywords: Adolescent, Crime, Drug addiction, Family, School, Street
  • TED University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Purpose of Review: The study aims to examine the relationship between crime rates among drug-addicted adolescents and personal, social, and familial factors as well as street and school factors. The participants included 713 male drug-addicted adolescents who had received residential treatment at a psychiatry clinic between 2013 and 2020. The “Patient Medical History Form” created by the experts of the clinic was used as a data collection tool. The binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine significant predictive variables increasing the probability of drug-addicted adolescents to be included in the categories of living on the street, committing crimes, school dropout, suicide attempt, and self-harm behavior. Recent Findings: The findings showed that age, father-adolescent relationship, school dropout, and having an employment history significantly predicted the factor of living on the street; age, school dropout, street life history, drug use in the extended family, and having a criminal history in the extended family significantly predicted the factor of committing crimes; and having an employment history, drug use in the extended family, and having a criminal history significantly predicted the school dropout factor. Besides, suicidal ideation and self-harm behavior significantly predicted the factor of attempting suicide; similarly, age, street life, and having a prison history significantly predicted the possibility of self-harm behavior of the adolescents. Summary: The results showed that personal, social, and familial factors, as well as street and school factors, and crime rates were associated with addictive behavior among drug-addicted adolescents.