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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Sessions, cyphers, and parties: settings for informal social controls of blunt smoking.

The importance of settings for marijuana use has been widely noted, but the way that informal social controls are organized to moderate the amounts consumed have not been well documented. A major ethnographic study of blunts/marijuana use in New York City observed several hundred marijuana users in group locations and conducted intensive interviews with 92 focal subjects. The vast majority of blunt smokers preferred to consume in a group setting. Participants identified three group settings in which blunt smoking often occurred-sessions, cyphers, and parties. The analysis identifies various conduct norms, rituals, and behavior patterns associated with each of these settings. Regardless of the setting, group processes encouraged equal sharing of blunts, moderation in consumption, intermission and breaks between smoking episodes, and involvement in non-smoking activities. Blunt smoking groups rarely encouraged high consumption and intoxication from marijuana.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Opium use in Turkmenistan: a historical perspective.

This paper presents a picture of how the patterns of opium use have changed in Turkmenistan over more than 100 years and the relationship between these transformations and formal and informal social controls of drug use. From the late 18th century, when opium use began to become a social problem, informal control weakened. Eventually, in the late 19th century, formal control was introduced, aimed at the prohibition of drug trade and use. From that time, the intended and unintended outcomes of implemented policies led to changes in the demographic patterns of users and the social-medical consequences of opiate use. The anti-drug policies, where criminal prohibition coexisted with strategies aimed at raising the population's general living standards and at providing free access to health care, were effective up to the early 1980s. New political and social-economic realities in the 1980-90s have radically changed the drug scene in the country, with heroin trade and use as the main concerns. The government's reaction, while following the old paths, has included new elements, based mainly on ideas of national consolidation.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗
PubMed2006

Neighborhood social capital and adult health: an empirical test of a Bourdieu-based model.

Drawing upon Bourdieu's [1986. The forms of capital. In: Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood, New York, pp. 241-258.] social capital theory, I test a conceptual model of neighborhood conditions and social capital - considering relationships between neighborhood social capital forms (social support, social leverage, informal social control, and neighborhood organization participation) and adult health behaviors (smoking, binge drinking) and perceived health, as well as interactions between neighborhood social capital and individuals' access to that social capital. Analyzing Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey data linked with tract level census data, results suggest that specific social capital forms were directly associated with both positive and negative health outcomes. Additionally, residents' neighborhood attachment moderated relationships between various social capital forms and health. Future studies should consider social capital resources and the role of differential access to such resources for promoting or compromising health.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Children's health-related quality of life, neighbourhood socio-economic deprivation and social capital. A contextual analysis.

Neighbourhood objective socio-economic indicators and community-reported subjective measures of social capital were examined in relation to children's health-related quality of life in the Netherlands. Three different data-sources were used: (1) objective neighbourhood socio-economic indicators, (2) subjective neighbourhood data on social capital, and (3) individual data of a family cohort study, including questions on children's health-related quality of life, and family socio-economic status. Multilevel analyses were conducted using both neighbourhood level and individual level data. Neighbourhood socio-economic status and social capital were associated. Measures of socio-economic deprivation and social capital were both non-specifically associated with children's general health and satisfaction, independent of possible individual-level confounders. However, children's mental health and behaviour were specifically associated with one aspect of social capital, the degree of informal social control in the neighbourhood.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Urban poverty and the family context of delinquency: a new look at structure and process in a classic study.

This paper reanalyzes data from the Gluecks classic study of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents reared in low-income neighborhoods of central Boston. Based on a general theory of informal social control, we propose a 2-step hypothesis that links structure and process: family poverty inhibits family processes of informal social control, in turn increasing the likelihood of juvenile delinquency. The results support the theory by showing that (1) erratic, threatening, and harsh discipline, (2) low supervision, and (3) weak parent-child attachment mediate the effects of poverty and other structural factors on delinquency. We also address the potential confounding role of parental and childhood disposition. Although difficult children who display early antisocial tendencies do disrupt family management, as do antisocial and unstable parents, mediating processes of informal social control still explain a large share of variance in adolescent delinquency. Overall, the results underscore the indirect effects of structural contexts like family poverty on adolescent delinquency within disadvantaged populations. We note implications for current debates on race, crime, and the "underclass" in urban America.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Social control and coercion in addiction treatment: towards evidence-based policy and practice.

BACKGROUND: Social pressures are often an integral part of the process of seeking addiction treatment. However, scientists have not developed conclusive evidence on the processes, benefits and limitations of using legal, formal and informal social control tactics to inform policy makers, service providers and the public. This paper characterizes barriers to a robust interdisciplinary analysis of social control and coercion in addiction treatment and provides directions for future research. APPROACH: Conceptual analysis and review of key studies and trends in the area are used to describe eight implicit assumptions underlying policy, practice and scholarship on this topic. FINDINGS: Many policies, programmes and researchers are guided by a simplistic behaviourist and health-service perspective on social controls that (a) overemphasizes the use of criminal justice systems to compel individuals into treatment and (b) fails to take into account provider, patient and public views. CONCLUSIONS: Policies and programmes that expand addiction treatment options deserve support. However, drawing a firm distinction between social controls (objective use of social pressure) and coercion (client perceptions and decision-making processes) supports a parallel position that rejects treatment policies, programmes, and associated practices that create client perceptions of coercion.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2003

[Social control and information democratization: a process under construction].

This work aims at a critical reflection on social control as a legal-institutional achievement and its legitimacy conditions, pointing out strategies for information democratization in the local health system. The text was developed according to three thematic units: the first discusses social participation as a legal-institutional achievement; the second analyzes the essential conditions for legitimacy and the third presents information as a fundamental element for management and social control as an unfinished process that is still under construction.

Brazil↗
PubMed2006

Community social organization, parents, and peers as mediators of perceived neighborhood block characteristics on delinquent and prosocial activities.

Research on contextual and neighborhood effects has grown exponentially over the past decade as researchers have reacknowledged that community matters. Although empirical findings have consistently documented the significant influence of neighborhood context, the field is just beginning to investigate the varied and multiple pathways through which this influence is transmitted. The current study found support for both a direct and indirect influence of perceived neighborhood structural characteristics (i.e., neighborhood stability, income), measured at the block level, on neighborhood and youth outcomes. Directly, perceived neighborhood advantage led to significantly lower neighborhood rates of official delinquency and higher rates of prosocial activity. Indirectly, perceived neighborhood advantage significantly impacted outcomes by influencing more proximal constructs such as community social organization, informal social control, parenting practices, and affiliation with delinquent peers. Different pathways were significant across neighborhood and youth outcomes, yet perceived neighborhood advantage, in particular neighborhood stability, consistently exerted substantial effects, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and multilevel prevention efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Alcohol and other drugs: the response of the political and medical institutions.

Formal and informal social control in shaping individual behaviors toward the use of alcohol and other drugs is discussed. Emphasis is placed on formal social control as it occurs in two major institutions. The state, which embodies the political and legal structures of the society is discussed in terms of the social control of some of the consequences of drinking, such as public drunkenness, alcoholism, operating vehicles with specific blood alcohol levels, and crime and alcohol use. The medical institution's involvement in alcohol and drug control is discussed in terms of the physician's role in diagnosing alcohol and drug dependent individuals. Two contemporary cases, those of pregnant addicts and alcohol-related organ transplant patients, illustrate the significant interactions between the responses of the political and medical institutions, and the broader influences that help shape these responses.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1994

What if alcoholism had not been invented? The dynamics of American alcohol mythology.

This essay speculates on what might have been had alcoholism not been invented. The invention is viewed as a product of the ongoing myth-making process whereby society continuously defines and redefines alcohol, seeking to integrate it into the culture in ways that allow enjoyment of its pleasures with minimum pain. Had alcoholism not been invented, (a) the myth-making process might have yielded another simplistic explanation of drunkenness, but more likely alcohol would have remained the supposed cause; (b) the per capita alcohol consumption uptrend of some 50 years standing might not have reversed as it did in 1982; (c) chronic drunkards might still be denied life-saving hospitalization which gains them more time for the natural reform process to work for them; and (d) local communities nationwide might have taken common-sense actions to facilitate the natural rehabilitation process and provided more benefit to more alcoholics for less cost than treating alcoholism. It is expected that Americans will continue to drink and will continue to seek a more harmonious relationship with alcohol. The informal social controls will continue to largely constrain individual appetites for alcohol's pleasures, and most alcoholics will continue to gain control of their excessive drinking in the natural course of events with or without exposure to alcoholism treatment.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1993

Gossip: does it play a role in the socialization of nurses?

Despite its generally negative reputation, gossip continues to be a significant genre of communication in every society. The initial purpose of this paper is to scrutinize gossip from historical, analytical and feminist perspectives. An extensive review of the literature suggests gossip serves three primary functions: information, influence or social control and entertainment. The second purpose is to explore how the functions of gossip may contribute to the socialization of nurses to their professional role and to their work culture.

Communication↗
PubMed1992

Prohibition or liberalization of alcohol and drugs? A sociocultural perspective.

The "war against drugs," and calls for increasing restrictions on the availability of alcoholic beverages, reflect a resurgence in the popularity of mandated formal controls and suspicion of informal controls. A small, but increasing countercurrent recommends various forms of liberalization of access to alcohol and drugs. Both viewpoints are being promulgated for their efficacy in reducing and/or preventing a broad range of problems "associated with" (and often assumed to be caused by) psychoactive substances. In the absence of rigorous empirical evidence on the subject, critical examination of prior experience in the United States, and of analogous experiences in other cultures, provides a range of relevant "natural experiments." The association of alcohol and cocaine with various problems varies markedly from culture to culture and from time to time within a single culture. The definition of "abuse" problems is evidently based on social constructions rather than reflecting the epidemiology of public health and social welfare. Formal and informal controls are not mutually exclusive and can be complementary. A broader view of education and of controls could result in fruitful natural experiments among jurisdictions within this country, and lessen alcohol and drug problems at the same time.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2004

The prevention of young driver's DWI (driving while intoxicated) and RWDI (riding with a driver under influence) in Europe: a social-sequential model.

Inspired by the "critical incident technique" of McKnight et al. (1995) who analyzed 12,000 drivers' decisions leading to (or not to) DWI, and identified the influence of social, motivational, and economic factors, we have developed a social-sequential model of young drivers' DWI (driving while intoxicated) and RWDI (riding with a driver under influence) prevention. DWI or RWDI may be analyzed as a four-stage process: (1) the decision to drink and to associate leisure activities with drinking; (2) the management of alcohol consumption during the evening; (3) the decision to drive after drinking; and (4) the behavioral adaptation, once the decision to drive is taken (disinhibition of risk-taking or risk compensation). At each of these four stages, preventive action can reflect the intervention of two types of actors: (1) formal social control of behavior is influenced by professionals involved in accident prevention, and (2) informal social control of behavior is influenced by the proximal environment of the subject.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Children's mental health service use, neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation, and social capital.

BACKGROUND: There is accumulating evidence that the shared social environment at the neighbourhood level exerts significant effects on health over and above individual level variables. The aim of this study was to assess the interactive influence of neighbourhood measures of socioeconomic deprivation and social capital (i. e. informal social control, social cohesion and trust) on children's mental health service use, independent of individual level confounders. METHODS: Two different data sources were used: 1) individual socioeconomic measures, derived from a case-control study in which case/control status indicated mental health service use or not, and 2) neighbourhood measures of socioeconomic deprivation and social capital. The data were subjected to multilevel logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Children living in more deprived neighbourhoods run a higher risk of coming into contact with mental health care services. The social capital variables (informal social control and social cohesion and trust) did not exert main effects, but strong trust and social cohesion between citizens in the neighbourhood mitigated the risk-increasing effect of socioeconomic deprivation on children's mental health service use. CONCLUSIONS: The deleterious effects of socioeconomic deprivation on mental health service use in children are sensitive to the context of cohesion and trust in neighbourhoods. Effects of deprivation on children's mental health cannot be interpreted without taking into account the context of social capital.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed2006

Culture as an explanation for substance-related problems: a cross-national study among French and Dutch adolescents.

Our main goal was to establish whether French and Dutch adolescents differ in rates of substance-related adverse events (e.g. fights, robbery), problems with peers or socializing agents even when controlling for pattern of substance use. For problems with peers and socializing agents due to alcohol we hypothesized that, because of stronger informal control of drinking in France, French adolescents are more likely to report problems with peers and socializing agents. For adverse events due to alcohol no difference was expected after controlling for consumption patterns. For drug-related problems, the hypothesis was that, due to the more restrictive drug policy in France, French adolescents are more likely to report problems with peers, socializing agents and adverse events. Comparable surveys based on samples of adolescent schoolchildren in France (n=9646) and the Netherlands (n=4291) were used. Data were analysed using multilevel logistic regression in which school, age and gender, indicators of substance use and country were used as predictors of substance-related problems. The outcomes show that French adolescents are more likely to report problems with peers and socializing agents due to alcohol even when consumption pattern is controlled for. For adverse events due to alcohol no difference was found between French and Dutch adolescents. For drug-related problems the expected differences were found; i.e. French adolescents are more likely to report problems with peers, socializing agents and adverse events even when controlling for pattern of drug use. It is concluded that there are culturally embedded differences in the rates of some types of problems due to alcohol or drug use. With respect to alcohol use, these differences are most likely due to culturally embedded differences in the informal social control of alcohol use. The differences in rates of drug-related problems are interpreted in the context of national differences in drug policy.

Adolescent↗