Heroin addiction among women, 1981

Solaiman, Farzaneh

1980-1989

Problem and Purpose: This study is concerned with the problem of addiction among female patients of two clinics located in Atlanta metropolitan area: (1) The Midtown Intake and Treatment Center, (2) The Synthesis West Treatment Center. The main variables in this study are as follows: a. Personal characteristics such as: age, education, marital status. b. Behavioral characteristics such as: age at first drug experience, criminal behavior, admission status. c. Family background such as: socioeconomic status of parents, family disorganization and drug dependency, and place of residence. This study was designed to investigate and describe specific aspects of the variables mentioned above about the female heroin addict and to determine whether or not the information agrees with the previous researches. Procedures The data were obtained by administration of a questionnaire to fourty-six female patients of the two mentioned clinics. The paper discusses data collection procedures, results, scope of the study, findings and finally, suggestions for further study. Results In most of the areas, the findings agree with the previous researches. Important findings with respect to the family background are the following: 1. Most of the respondents' fathers are skilled or semiskilled workers. 2. A large proportion of respondents have been raised in families living in urban areas. 3. Respondents have been raised often in families in which at least one member of them had a history of drug or alcohol use. Important finding relating to personal characteristics are the following: 1. Females have become addicts at earlier ages in more recent years. In fact, most had their first drug experience between ages 13 to 18 years. 2. Most of the respondents have high school level of education but a good number of them become dropouts. 3. Respondents seem to have more stable marriages than their parents. Important findings relating to behavioral characteristics: 1. First drug experience was experienced with friends. 2. A good number of respondents admitted that they committed a crime during their heroin addiction and most of them categorized their crime as prostitution. 3. More than 80 percent of respondents voluntarily committed themselves to the clinics for treatment.

text

application/pdf

1981-07-01

thesis

Master of Arts (MA)

Atlanta University

Sociology

Hubert B. Ross

Clark Atlanta University

Georgia--Atlanta

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1981_solaiman_farzaneh