Control Attitudes toward Drug Use as a Function of Paternalistic and Moralistic Principles

Abstract

Perceptions of crime seriousness have been studied since the 1960s. Characteristics of acts affecting these perceptions have been identified, and the degree of agreement in seriousness judgments has been examined for a variety of behaviors. The present study extends this inquiry by investigating how perceptions of self-harm and perceptions of immorality shape attitudes toward the control of drug use. These attitudes and perceptions were measured for six widely known drugs -alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana -using an electronic mail survey of university students. Univariate analysis shows dissensus rather than consensus in attitudes and perceptions and that, with the exception of marijuana, control attitudes toward drug use reflect the existing legal code. Multivariate analysis shows that perceptions of self-harm and perceptions of immorality are moderately to highly correlated and that control attitudes are strongly affected by perceptions of self-harm and perceptions of immorality. __________ Stelios Stylianou, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Intercollege, Lefkosia, Cyprus. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington, Seattle. His research focuses on the moral structure of social control. In particular, he has studied control attitudes toward victimless behaviors, predominantly drug use and sexual deviance. Direct correspondence to

The Effects of Victim’s Substance Use and Relationship Closeness on Mock Jurors’ Judgments in an Acquaintance Rape Case

“…As noted earlier, alcohol is viewed as a relatively "safe" drug that is associated with different attitudes and expectancies than other drugs are (Stylianou, 2002;Weisheit & Johnson, 1992). In the present study, we examined whether the relationship between substance use and relationship closeness is the same for LSD, a drug that is less socially acceptable than alcohol but still somewhat widely used.…”

“…Over 84% of the survey respondents rated use of these substances as being more harmful than use of alcohol (Weisheit & Johnson, 1992). Another survey showed that, although most participants classified occasional use of LSD to be a serious crime, they merely "discouraged" the daily use of marijuana and alcohol (Stylianou, 2002).…”

“…Conditions varied in substance and legality among (a) sober/control condition, (b) legal alcohol intoxication, (c) illegal (underage) alcohol intoxication, and (d) LSD intoxication. LSD was chosen because it is perceived as a much more dangerous, and less acceptable, substance than alcohol (as opposed to, say, marijuana, the perception of which does not differ consistently from alcohol Stylianou, 2002;Weisheit & Johnson, 1992). Both the legal and illegal alcohol conditions were included in an attempt to determine the extent to which any negative perceptions of the victim were due to her use of an intoxicating substance (true in all but the sober condition), as opposed to her use of a substance that was intoxicating as well as illegal (true in the illegal alcohol and LSD conditions).…”

Badges and Brothels: Police Officers' Attitudes Toward Prostitution

“…Being religious (as opposed to being non-religious) was never a significant predictor in the analysis. This is a curious finding because much of the literature on attitudes toward vice among the general public has found that religiosity is strongly associated with negative perceptions toward vice activities, including prostitution (Stylainou, 2002(Stylainou, , 2003(Stylainou, , 2004. The reason for the non-significant findings in these models may be due to the lack of religious variation within the sample.…”

“…People who are more religious, or belong to more traditional religious groups, tend to view prostitution less favorably (Stylainou, 2002). Differences among gender also exist.…”