Psychosocial Influences of the Escalation of Deviance: The Case of Prescription Drug Sniffing

• In Event: 506 - Regular Session. Substance Use, Abuse, Treatment

Abstract

Objectives: We test five theoretically informed hypotheses focused on social and psychological factors – sensation seeking, coping, stigma, peer drug associations, and use for pleasant times with others – that may impact the escalation of deviance via non-normative routes of consumption using the case of prescription drug misuse.

Methods: Relying on a sample of prescription drug misusing young adults recruited via time-space sampling, we tested five hypothesized psychosocial factors that may affect the odds of sniffing prescription drugs using nested logistic regression models.

Results: Analyses indicate that social factors – peer drug associations and use for pleasant time with peers – as well as stigma were associated with sniffing prescription drugs. Sensation seeking was significant until these social factors are entered into the model.

Conclusions: The social environment is vital for the escalation of deviance, and scholars should further delineate which social mechanisms have the most salient impact on the escalation of drug use, and deviance more broadly. This paper adds to the literature on the escalation of deviance through a consideration of escalation as non-normative route of administration rather than increasing use, the consideration of both social and psychological factors, and an application to the prescription drug problem.

Authors

• Brian Christopher Kelly, Purdue University

• Emily Harris, Purdue University

• Michael Vuolo, The Ohio State University