title: Drug offers as a context for violence perpetration and victimization.
abstract: Drug use has been linked empirically with and aggression and violence among youth in national and State of Hawai'i samples. However, the nature of this link and its implications for prevention are unclear. Therefore, this article explores the intersection of drugs with aggression and violence by using the drug offer context as the unit of analysis. Native Hawaiian youth are sampled because substance use rates tend to be higher and onset tends to be earlier for them than for their non-Hawaiian peers. Fourteen sex-specific focus group discussions were held with rural Native Hawaiian middle school students (N = 64). Students discussed what they think they would do in terms of drug refusal strategies in a variety of drug offer contexts. Although aggression and violence were perceived to be socially inappropriate, students nonetheless felt drug use would be less socially competent. Narrative analyses indicated that aggression and violence were thought to function as potential drug refusal strategies. As proximal drug resistance, aggression and violence perpetration served as an immediate deterrent to the drug offerer and thus drug use. As distal drug resistance, victimization served as a rationale for avoiding drug using contexts. Implications are discussed in terms of prevention policy and practice, specifically in terms of a school-based prevention curriculum. Future research in Hawaiian epistemology and gendered approaches are warranted.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Research Division , John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa , Honolulu , Hawai'i.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Helm
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaliades
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giroux
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006254:Hawaii; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D012424:Rural Population; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*