The association of early risk factors to opiate addiction and psychological adjustment

Abstract

It is clear that family/parental peer and individual risk factors that appear early in life contribute to increased susceptibility to addiction. This study aimed to determine the relationship between those risk factors, the development of opiate addiction, and the development of psychological maladjustment in addicts. A total of 252 subjects were selected from in and around Baltimore, aged less than 40 years, and 12 or older at the onset of opiate addiction. There were 342 controls from the same neighbourhood, matched for age, race and place of reidence, but free from opiate addiction.Ten risk factors in the five domains of family disruption, peer deviance, personal deviance, psychological symptoms and lack of protective factors, were studied. The addicts and the non-addicts had different risk profiles comparing black and white people, whilst a significant differentiation was found for each race: white addicts scored significantly higher than non-white on all of the risk factors, whereas black addicts scored significantly higher than black non-addicts on risk factors denoting peer school misbehaviour and fighting, personal drug abuse and behavioural deviance. The study has implications for both the course and treatment of drug addiction. The findings suggest that as well as being a causal agent, drug addiction is a concomitant feature of a variety of problems.

Drug Use and Treatment Initiation Patterns: Differences by Birth-Cohorts

“…The temporal order of initiation of illegal activities and drug use is crucial in understanding the progression of addiction and criminal careers (Nurco, Hanlon, O'Grady, & Kinlock, 1997a). The fact that onset of illegal activities before onset of weekly drug use was also associated with delayed age of escalated drug use means that individuals initiating crime early in their life may be experimenters during the early stages of their addiction careers.…”

“…Polydrug use and high unemployment have been associated with criminality (Blumstein & Cohen, 1987), and onset of criminal activity before weekly drug use is associated with a wider array of crimes committed (Farabee, Joshi, & Anglin, 2001). The temporal order of initiation of illegal activities and drug use is crucial in understanding the progression of addiction and criminal careers (Nurco, Hanlon, O'Grady, & Kinlock, 1997a). The fact that onset of illegal activities before onset of weekly drug use was also associated with delayed age of escalated drug use means that individuals initiating crime early in their life may be experimenters during the early stages of their addiction careers.…”

The Severity, Frequency, and Variety of Crime in Heroin-Dependent Prisoners Enrolled in a Buprenorphine Clinical Trial

“…For the baseline version of this instrument, which elicits personal historical data and for which accuracy of recall covering extended time periods is critical, interviewers were trained to structure the interview around significant life events, with temporal reference points to facilitate recall, in keeping with procedures used successfully by the authors and their colleagues at Friends Research Institute (FRI) in previous research studies (e.g., Nurco, Balter, & Kinlock, 1994; Nurco, Hanlon, O’Grady, & Kinlock, 1997). The crime data, which are the focus of the present analyses, were obtained from this questionnaire.…”

“…A structured interview, in use in our previous and current research (Gordon, Kinlock, Schwartz, & O’Grady, 2008; Kinlock et al, 2007), was utilized at baseline to obtain more detailed historical—and, in some cases, current—information than obtained with the ASI regarding drug and alcohol use, psychological problems, criminality, criminal justice system, supervision and sanctions, legitimate employment, and substance abuse treatment. For the baseline version of this instrument, which elicits personal historical data and for which accuracy of recall covering extended time periods is critical, interviewers were trained to structure the interview around significant life events, with temporal reference points to facilitate recall, in keeping with procedures used successfully by the authors and their colleagues at Friends Research Institute (FRI) in previous research studies (e.g., Nurco, Balter, & Kinlock, 1994; Nurco, Hanlon, O’Grady, & Kinlock, 1997). The crime data, which are the focus of the present analyses, were obtained from this questionnaire.…”

Conflict and User Involvement in Drug Misuse Treatment Decision-Making: A Qualitative Study

“…Implementing user involvement within the substance misuse field is, however, unlikely to be straightforward. Over the years, many authors have portrayed drug users as impatient, manipulative and aggressive, and identified hostility and anger as typical drug user characteristics [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Indeed, De Leon has argued that drug users 'often display an extreme sense of entitlement and exaggerated reactions to perceived unfairness, a need for immediate gratification in the form of instant answers, resistance through arguments, and a tendency to manipulate authority figures' [20].…”