Adolescent perceptions of messages about drugs and drug use from supportive others
Open Access
- Author:
- Hipper, Thomas John
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Arts and Sciences
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- May 11, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Michelle E Day, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- ATOD
Social Support
Communication
Rural - Abstract:
- Adolescent drug use remains a serious problem in the United States (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2012). The 2011 Monitoring the Future survey (MTF) found that half of the adolescents in a nationwide study had tried an illicit drug by the time they finished high school. Recent studies report higher rates of alcohol and other illicit drug use among rural adolescents when compared to urban counterparts and rural adolescents remain an understudied portion of the population (Mink, Moore, Johnson, Probst, & Martin, 2005; Spoth, Goldberg, Neppl, Trudeau, & Ramisetty-Mikler, 2001; Zollinger, Saywell, Overgaard, Przybylski, & Dutta-Bergman, 2006). Scholars have called for further investigation into the experiences of rural adolescents and the extent to which social processes, such as the role of social support, can help reduce drug use among rural youth. Based on interviews with 113 rural adolescents, this study identified and described the sources and functions of social support messages rural adolescents report receiving within the context of substance use and analyzes their appraisals of those messages. Results indicate that parents, adult experts, and siblings were the most common sources of social support for rural adolescents. Functions of support include emotional, esteem, informational, instrumental, and network support. Informational, instrumental, and emotional support were the most frequently provided functions, while esteem and network support messages were much less common. In terms of emotional support, adolescents gave a positive appraisal to messages from parents that conveyed care and to messages from individuals who had been through similar experiences. Messages providing informational support, the most frequently provided function, were appraised positively when the advice was provided by a source who modeled that behavior, as well as when the advice was provided by a source that was able to base the message on a similar previous experience. Participants noted that siblings were particularly adept at providing advice that was based on previous, shared experiences to which the adolescents could easily relate. In terms of instrumental support, rural adolescents valued messages provided by friends and siblings when intervening during a substance offer, either advocating for them or physically threatening the source of the offer. Messages that provided alternatives to substance use also received a positive appraisal. This was particularly true for adolescents who had a history of substance use. Overall, the findings from this study provide important descriptive information that will increase understanding of the sources, functions, and appraisals of social support messages that rural adolescents report they receive from others to help them make healthy choices and remain drug free.