The dilemma of addiction and recovery during adolescence.

Abstract

The study probes how the process of substance use, abuse, and addiction affects the lives of users during their adolescence. Using qualitative research methods, it investigated the lives of seven adolescent substance users who began using licit and illicit drugs during their early teenage years and eventually became addicts. The research focused on the participants' personal history, investigated their relationships with families, peers, schools, and communities in an attempt to trace their involvement with alcohol and drugs. Due to their substance abuse issues, all seven were forced out of the traditional public school setting. During the initial phase of the study, the participants were enrolled in a long-term residential drug treatment program and within nine months of the study, all had graduated from the treatment program and returned home. All seven promised to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.) meetings, work the Twelve Steps and refraining from the return of drugs and alcohol. The researcher interviewed the participants at the treatment center, while they were on weekend passes and in their homes after graduation. Three of the four participants relapsed shortly after graduation, and the four who remained sober had setbacks, but remain committed to recovery. The research findings indicate that the surrender process, and resiliency and social stress theories provide the conceptual understanding of these participants' recoveries and relapses.