The Role of Social Capital in African Americans' Attempts to Reduce and Quit Cocaine Use

BACKGROUND:

Research examining substance users' recovery has focused on individual-level outcomes while paying limited attention to the contexts within which individuals are embedded, and the social processes involved in recovery.

OBJECTIVES:

This paper examines factors underlying African American cocaine users' decisions to reduce or quit cocaine use and uses practice theory to understand how lifestyle changes and shifts in social networks facilitate access to the capital needed to change cocaine use patterns.

METHODS:

The study, an in-depth analysis of substance-use life history interviews carried out from 2010 to 2012, included 51 currently not-in-treatment African American cocaine users in the Arkansas Mississippi Delta region. A blended inductive and deductive approach to data analysis was used to examine the socio-cultural and economic processes shaping cocaine use and recovery.

RESULTS:

The majority of participants reported at least one lifetime attempt to reduce or quit cocaine use; motivations to reduce use or quit included desires to meet social role expectations, being tired of using, and incarceration. Abstinence-supporting networks, participation in conventional activities, and religious and spiritual practices afforded access to capital, facilitating cocaine use reduction and sobriety.

CONCLUSIONS:

Interventions designed to increase connection to and support from nondrug using family and friends with access to recovery capital (e.g., employment, faith community, and education) might be ideal methods to reduce substance use among minorities in low-income, resource-poor communities.

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By:  Cheney AM¹, Booth BM², Borders TF³, Curran GM⁴.

¹ Center for Healthy Communities , University of California Riverside , Riverside , California , USA.

² Division of Health Services Research , University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , Little Rock , Arkansas , USA.

³ Department of Health Management and Policy , University of Kentucky , Lexington , Kentucky , USA.

⁴ Department of Pharmacy Practice , University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , Little Rock , Arkansas , USA.

Subst Use Misuse. 2016 Apr 20:1-11.

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Arkansas - Trends in Property Crime and Larceny Rates

Via:  http://goo.gl/x3qz9p

US States with the Highest Rates of Gun Ownership

Via:  https://atlas.qz.com/charts/NJt0vesF

Trends in Injection Drug Use among High School Students, U.S., 1995-2013

INTRODUCTION:

Injection drug use is the most frequently reported risk behavior among new cases of hepatitis C virus infection, and recent reports of increases in infection are of great concern in many communities. This study assessed the prevalence and trends in injection drug use among U.S. high school students.

METHODS:

Data were from CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which collects information on health risk behaviors at the national, state, and large urban school district levels. Analyses were conducted in 2014.

RESULTS:

In 2013, 1.7% of high school students nationwide had ever injected any illegal drug. Nationwide, ever injecting any illegal drug did not change significantly from 1995 to 2013, except among black non-Hispanic students. For this subgroup, both a significant linear increase from 1995 to 2013 and a significant quadratic trend were observed, with injection drug use increasing from 1995 to 2009 and decreasing from 2009 to 2013. 

• Significant linear increases in injection drug use occurred in five states (Arkansas, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, and New York) and six large urban school districts (Baltimore, Memphis, Miami-Dade County, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle). 
• Significant linear decreases occurred in three states (Massachusetts, South Dakota, and West Virginia). Both a significant linear increase and quadratic trend were observed in Maine; quadratic trends were observed in Tennessee, Utah, and Palm Beach County, Florida. 

CONCLUSIONS:

In some geographic areas and population groups, an increasing or high frequency of injection drug use was found among high school students, who should be targeted for prevention.

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By:   Klevens RM¹, Jones SE², Ward JW³, Holtzman D³, Kann L².

¹Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia. Electronic address: rmk2@cdc.gov.

²Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.

³Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.

Am J Prev Med. 2016 Jan;50(1):40-6. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2015.05.026. Epub 2015 Aug 24.

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