What Influences Some Black Females to Sell Drugs During their Adolescence?

• In Event: Women and Crime

Abstract

This study examines the reasons that young black women began selling drugs during their adolescence. I conducted semi-structured phone interviews with ten black women, aged 18 to 40. The questions asked about the participants’ individual interpretations of the processes, experiences, and contexts of selling drugs in their adolescence. This research fits into the existing literature on the “careers” of deviant individuals. Individuals discussed exposure to the drug market, how and at what age they began selling drugs, the type of drug they started selling, and their motives for continuing and quitting the life. Reasons for starting included exposure to familial/peer selling, normality of exposure to drug activity, parental drug use, exposure to people who had more (material goods), and a more desirable alternative to prostitution. The motives to continue were fast money, survival, power of finance, and addiction. Lastly, motives to quit included dangerous/traumatic events or experiences, employment, and the desire for a more positive lifestyle. These research findings can be used to create and inform youth and drug treatment and community development programs for underprivileged communities that have high rates of using and selling drugs. This study was approved by the CSU, Sacramento Institutional Board of review in 2013.

Author

• Tatiana Starr Daniels, California State University, Sacramento