 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Brian C. Kelly, MA, MPhil, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 W 168th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10032, 212 305-6961, bck12@columbia.edu
This paper describes current patterns of club drug use and local conceptions of risk among youth. The data is drawn from a NIDA-funded ethnographic study of club drug initiation among “Bridge and Tunnel” youth, that is, suburban youth who travel to Manhattan to socialize. Such youth potentially act as an epidemiological bridge population not only for disease transmission but for the transference of club drug norms, beliefs, and practices between urban youth and stationary suburban youth. The author provides a typology of use among “Bridge and Tunnel” youth, while highlighting the heterogeneity of patterns of club drug use amongst this population. The paper also entails an examination of the discontinuities between folk models of risk within this population and professional models of risk. The author attempts to answer the following questions: How do club drug using youth conceive of risks related to club drug use? How does local youth culture and broader structural factors inform such conceptions? How do such conceptions compare and contrast with current professional models of risk? Ultimately, the author examines how the relationship between folk models and professional models might inform health promotion efforts targeting youth.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Drug Use, Youth
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.