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Reputation and adolescent drug use: A focus group study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Peta Odgers ,
Stephen Houghton  and
John Hattie
Peta Odgers
Affiliation:
The University of Western Australia
Stephen Houghton*
Affiliation:
The University of Western Australia
John Hattie
Affiliation:
The University of Western Australia
*
Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009, shoughto@ecel.uwa.edu.au
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Abstract

Thirty four high school students were assigned to one of six focus groups according to their self-reported drug status (i.e., user, ex-user, nonuser). Allgroups viewed the same two video vignettes, and a drug user was identified as the target character in the second vignette. At the completion of each vignette they answered a series of questions about the target character in each video. Results indicated that adolescents assign reputations to persons according to the activities in which they engage, and that this assignment is influenced by their own similar or dissimilar activities. An analysis of vocabulary revealed that meaning was context specific to the subculture. In many instances nonusers were unaware of the meaning of the vocabulary used by their drug using peers.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , November 1994 , pp. 18 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 1994

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