The Enabling Mother: Enabling, Helping, and Gender in the United States Opioid Epidemic

• In Event: 3129 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 17. Drug Use and Abuse

Abstract

As the rates of opioid-involved overdoses continue to rise in the United States, researchers have turned increased attention towards identifying the factors contributing to this epidemic. However, little recent research has focused on the factors that opioid users personally identify as contributing to their drug use and addiction. A better understanding of these factors is important, since they could influence opioid users’ behaviors and relationships with others. Drawing on 31 interviews with current and former opioid users in the midwestern United States, I find that the enabling behaviors of non-users were often a focal point for interviewees when discussing their opioid use and addiction. Behaviors that were frequently identified as enabling included providing opioid users with money or access to a vehicle. Moreover, some interviewees expressed doubt that there was a way for a family member or friend to help an opioid user without enabling them. Finally, while interviewees described various people in their lives as enablers, mothers were most often identified by interviewees. Together, these findings demonstrate how current and former opioid users interpret the behaviors of people in their lives and their perceived impact on their drug use, while also revealing how gendered processes may influence which behaviors are identified as enabling.

Author

• Tagart Cain Sobotka, Stanford University