The relationship between level of education and moral judgment toward who abuse drugs

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to verify the differences of the moral judgment toward the people who abuse drugs according to the schooling of the participants. This is the Brazilian part of a multicentric study. N=180 individuals in a community in Brasília, DF, Brazil; following consent, descriptive data were collected by anonymous interviewer-administered questionnaire that included socio-demographic, educational level and the history of drug use. Participants were predominantly females, middle-aged, married, employed, religious, with high school education; higher schooling considered alcohol abusers, marijuana, cocaine and crack are important as anyone else; the majority with lower education level knew someone who used drugs, but no association was found regarding drug use and schooling; in the unadjusted logistic regression model, positive associations were found between higher schooling and ‘who use drugs are as important as anyone else’ for all drugs studied; after adjusted, the association remained only for marijuana (all p<0.05). The negative attitude surrounding drugs issue can be an important obstacle. The results suggest that education can help to reduce the stigma associated; public policies would be important to minimizing social harm caused by stigmatized visions of drug users.

Students Who Use Drugs: What Teachers Think and How They Handle the Situation

“…Every adult, family member, health professional, teacher, or community representative plays an important role when it comes to providing guidelines to adolescents by giving them opportunities for the acquisition of information, and contributions to make these students more skilled and more able to lead a quality life (Elicker, Palazzo, Aerts, Alves, & Câmara, 2015). A study that verified differences in moral judgment regarding people that do drugs according to the level of education of the participants identified that the participants with higher level of education tend to have more positive, less stigmatizing attitudes regarding drug users, which reinforces the role played by teachers as fundamental in the support provided and the change in the ways to approach adolescent students that use illegal substances (Gallassi, Oliveira, Silva, Machado, & Wagner, 2021).…”

“…Although they understand the complexity of the phenomenon by listing risk factors that contribute to the use of alcohol and other drugs, the teachers still perceive students who use drugs as "morally weak", "a danger to society" and that "they could commit small crimes in their families". Such situation could be characterized as stigma, understood as a social construction, which attributes to its beholder a status of devaluation by other members of society (Gallassi et al, 2021). These situations take place when individuals are identified and related to some undesirable characteristic that they possess, and because of that, they get discriminated and underrated by society.…”

Substance use disorders and social functioning from an occupational perspective: a pre and post-study

“…The literature reports the desire of the people experiencing SUD to change their lives and solve their problems related to this drug use (Pettersen et al, 2019;Worley, 2017). However, the stigma associated with SUD can delay seeking help, which occurs when several domains of people's lives are already affected (Brown, 2011;Gallassi et al, 2021;Crapanzano et al, 2019). Thus, when seeking treatment, they often have additional social and health problems, including mental disorders, unemployment, poor housing, and some justice involvement (Daley, 2013;Dir et al, 2022;Reif et al, 2014), which systemically compromising their SF.…”

Estudantes Que Usam Drogas: Como Professores Lidam E Pensam Sobre Eles

“…Ainda que entendam a complexidade do fenômeno ao elencarem os fatores de risco que contribuem para o uso de álcool e outras drogas, os professores percebem os alunos que fazem uso como "moralmente fracos", "um perigo para a sociedade" e que "poderiam cometer delitos na sua família". Tal situação pode ser caracterizada como estigma, entendido como uma construção social, a qual atribui ao seu portador um status de desvalorização em relação aos outros membros da sociedade (Gallassi et al, 2021). Essas situações ocorrem quando os indivíduos são identificados em relação a alguma característica indesejável que possuem e, a partir disso, são discriminados e desvalorizados pela sociedade.…”

“…Cada adulto, familiar, profissional de saúde, professor, representante da comunidade, tem importante papel na orientação do adolescente oferecendo-lhe a oportunidade da informação, contribuindo para que se torne habilitado e capaz de cuidar de sua vida com qualidade (Elicker, Palazzo, Aerts, Alves, & Câmara, 2015). Um estudo que verificou as diferenças do julgamento moral em relação às pessoas que usam drogas de acordo com a escolaridade dos participantes, identificou que os mais escolarizados tendem a ter atitudes mais positivas e menos estigmatizantes com relação aos usuários, o que reforça o papel de professores como fundamental no processo de acolhimento e mudança na abordagem de estudantes adolescentes que estão em uso de substâncias (Gallassi, Oliveira, Silva, Machado, & Wagner, 2021).…”