Research Question

Drug abuse is a major social problem, which is common among the people all across the world. The Western world faced the ill effects of drug abuse first while it slowly crept into the population of the developing nations as well (Johnston, et.al, 2018). The intake of the prohibited or the illegal drugs lead to many health issues. In Australia, it is seen that among the children who are in their teenage and the youth who are in their early adulthood, the problem of drug abuse is very acute (Abuse and Administration, M.H.S, 2016). The youth is so influenced by this drug effect that they are also negatively impacting the people around them. The youth among whom poverty is a major social issue are now submitting themselves to the illegal drugs. There are many reasons which are making them addicted to such drugs. In this paper the reasons for the increase of the drug abuse among youth and children of Australia will be discussed. The children and youth make the future of the society. When they are under the effect of drugs, the society will be gradually destructed. Thus this paper will explore and analyse the causes of drug abuse.

The main question in this research is that why the teenagers and the youth of Australia are getting addicted to the illegal drugs. The secondary questions would be to find out whether only the drug abuse is prevailing among the lower strata people of Australia. The finding of this question will lead to the question of why this is happening among the poorer sections of the society. The answer t all these questions will be found at the end of the paper.

The aim of this research proposal is to find the justified answers to the primary and secondary research questions. The causes of the drug abuse among the targeted section of the society will be found. The stress will also be on the social and economic conditions of these people under drug impact. The teenagers and the youth need to be interviewed so that the root causes of this abuse are identified. The abuse is mainly common among the lower social and economic classes for which the reasons and its justification need to be found. The paper would therefore eventually identify the causes and suggest or recommend the solutions to remove this social ill from Australia.

According to Silins, et.al, (2018), there are many causes underlying the drug abuse among the youth of Australia. The youth originate from the children and so this evil is gradually creeping in among the little ones of the society. This is a dangerous impact on the entire society of the nation. As per McHugh, Nielsen and Weiss, (2015) the main cause which has been identified for the increasing impact of drugs among the youth is the economic condition of these drug abused population. The victims of drug abuse are mostly children from very poor families who have dropped their school. The college dropouts are also affected by such illicit drug intake (Kuehn, 2014). The terrible economic condition forces them to find a way out for easy happiness. They find drugs taking them into a world so free ad happy away from their everyday problems. There are many who after submitting themselves to drugs have eventually committed suicide. As stated by Chapman and Wu, (2014) it is observed that the internet is also a cause of drug abuse. The children and the youth are the ones who are usually more active on social sites and have a separate virtual life of their own. They are now much informed about the world around them, the different forms of addictions that exist, etc. They read and know about different illicit drugs and start taking such things. The influence of alcohol, nicotine and other harmful illegal drugs among the youth is increasing day by day. In the society the ill effect of drugs is escalating due to the prevailing economic conditions in the nation. The unemployed youth is frustrated with their life as they have no source earning. According to Hall, (2015) said that the impact of cannabis is increasing among the youth with time. The street dwellers are easy getting influenced by illicit drugs. Among the poorer sections of the society the impact of such intoxicants is higher.As said by Bachman, et.al, (2014) family is also a very important cause of drug abuse. The children or the youth who come from families which are of the lower social strata are more prone to such drug abuse. The parental role is important for suggesting their children to give up on such illegal drug intake. The parents are the ones who can recommend their children for rehabilitation from drug abuse. Hawkins and Weis, (2017) stated that the role of education is also a very important factor here. The people who are educated will morally and logically judge the situation before becoming a victim to such drug abuse. The children and youth who have educated parents or guardians will be restricted by their families when they find out that their children are taking illicit drugs. The youth and children need to be support and motivation so that they move away from the path of drugs. Kolodny, et.al, (2015) states that the governmenthas a very important role to play in preventing drug abuse. The elimination of illicit drugs from the society is in the hands of the government to quite an extent. The government has to take strict actions to ban all illegal drugs within the nation. Any supply or consumption of illegal drugs needs to be punished with heavy penalties. The people must be afraid to trade and intake such illicit drugs thinking about the strict anti-drugs laws. Scholes-Balog, et.al, (2016) states that the government must develop adequate number of rehabilitation centres which can help the drug victims to quit drugs. There is also a need of educational awareness among people against the use of illegal drugs (Moore, et.al, 2015). There are many cases where drugs are a gateway to escape. The poor people want to escape from their daily financial struggle for survival and so they take the help of drugs. On the other hand, there isdepression among the youth for which the reasons could be either love life or job life or something else. To move away from these frustrations and despair they intake drugs. Suffering from disease with no treatment, hunger, lack of shelter, etc. are some of the common economic problems faced by some lower economic strata people. These are also the driving force for committing to illicit drugs. This impact is more among the youth as they fail to reason and judge the situation and take impulsive decisions in life. Drug use among children, start with an interest or curiosity to try something new. Gradually this trial of something new and different develops into an addiction. As per Trapp, (2014) the youth of Australia have been surveyed and the findings suggest that many of them have not only tried illegal drugs to get addicted to it. Many of them have tried drugs in order to gain instant energy. This is very common among the youth who are associated with sports. The athletes are seen to take drugs so that they can get more energy to run. The different illicit drugs like marijuana or cannabis, hallucinogens like acid or LSD, nitrous oxide or nangs, GHB, methadone, cocaine, amphetamines or speed, smack, etc. According to Wakeford, (2018) the neurologists study and analysis the causes of increasing drug abuse among the young people of the nations. The major reason identified by them was that the people who are not able to adjust to the stress in their daily life, they take the help of drugs so that they can hallucinate and feel better about their present situation. Winters, et.al, (2014) states that most of the times, the drug abuse does not begin as an addiction. The peer groups try the different drugs out of their excitement or inquisitiveness at a tender age. This gradually becomes their habit and develops into an addiction which they find impossible or very hard to give up. Fuller, et.al, (2016) says that adolescence is a very difficult time for everyone. Thus, the addictions which they adopt at this stage are difficult to give up. Parents too find it hard to manage them. Sexual desires, demographics, etc. are some causes of drug addiction (Hemphill and Heerde, 2014).

Aims

The main objective of this paper is to find out the major causes of drug abuse among the children and the youth of Australia. It also tries to identify the economic causes which are influencing this increase in drug use. The proposal includes qualitative as well as quantitative research techniques. The sample will be selected from which the data will be collected. This collected data will be analysed statistically. From the analysis of data a conclusion can be drawn to the research. The concept will be developed based on qualitative research technique. The causes of drug abuse among the targeted age group can be analysed through the qualitative research. A qualitative research is easy to understand for a non-statistics student.

The research questions will be answered through the mixed approach research method involving both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The reasons for drug abuse can be identified by interviewing a chosen sample set. The explanatory part of the research is the qualitative analysis or the qualitative conclusions drawn from the answers to the questionnaire. The quantitative analysis adds the credibility to the research.

An inner city of Sydney at New South Wales in Australia named Kings Cross has shown very high rates of drug intake among the teenagers and youth population. Therefore for the research and interview purpose this locating is selected forth study area. Among the huge population size only a small sample size of 50 participants has been selected for conducting their interview. The sample size consists of youth and children in their last teen years.

The sample size of 50 participants comprising children (teenagers) and youth residing in the inner city of Kings Cross is chosen. The method or the technique is the interview method. A questionnaire is prepared which will help to get numbers, facts and explanations. The questions will be asked to the sample and their reply will be the data which will be collected for further analysis. The questionnaire is planned and designed in such a way that it would be helpful in drawing conclusions about the causes of drug abuse. The qualitative analysis also investigates on why the impact of drug abuse is greater on the lower social and economic strata of the society.

Through the interview of 50 people, including youth and teenagers of Kings Cross city, an idea and understanding will be developed about the reasons why this target group is vulnerable to committing themselves to illicit drugs. The people in the sample belong to different social and economic strata and so their answers to the questionnaire will also help to understand why this deprived section of the society is more prone to drug intake. The questions will be more open minded so that they can derive much detailed information from the sample. The interviewees will provide their own explanations and express their views regarding the cause (Johnston, et. Al, 2018). The survey can also proceed with distributing the questionnaire to interviewees for them to give written answers keeping their identity hidden.

Literature Review

The statistical package for social science (SPSS) will be used to analyse the collected data from the interview conducted on the sample. There will descriptive analysis which will take place after collecting the data. The inference will be further drawn based on the descriptive responses from the sample size. Descriptive statistics will be implemented for analysis of the data. The data, which will be collected after the interview, will be recorded. The recorded data will be further transcribed. Based on the objectives of the research the data coding will take place.

As the research is conducted among different young citizens of the city, they must be told clearly about the purpose of conducting the research. The ethics in a research is to keep the interviewees informed the entire research proceedings. In fact, if the interviewees want, the identity of the interviewees must be kept confidential (Kelly, et.al, 2015). As drug addicts may not find it safe to reveal their identity, the researcher has to keep that in mind and respect the anonymity. There can be some questions, which the interviewee may not want to respond to verbally. In such cases, a scope for written response with no mention of identity must be allowed.  

For conducting the research work, there needs to be adequate time allotted for the completion of the research work.

Time needs to be allotted for selection of the interviewers who will take the interview.  Roughly a week’s time will be needed for doing this.

The interviewers need to be trained so that they can effectively conduct the interview for the sample size. This will again take another week. The most important part of the research is the questionnaire based on which the research conclusion will be drawn. This needs time for preparation. Almost half a month’s time will be spent on doing this. A week would be needed to carry out the interviews. Not all the interviewees may be available at all times and so according to their availability the research has to be conducted. The data, which will be collected from the research, will need further analysis for drawing a concrete conclusion. This would take another week. Finally, after all the work is completed, the final report has to be written which will take a month’s time. Therefore, it can be said that the entire research will need approximately a months’ time.

Methodology and Conceptual Framework

The study is conducted only in one particular inner city of Australia. The sample may not be a proper representation of the population. The results derived from the interview may be misleading and biased. The sample size is quite small compared to the large population size.

The major contribution of the results of this research proposal would be that it would help the medical professionals and the social workers to prevent the spread of drug addiction. It would also help them to rehabilitate the young addicts.

After conducting the research, the result which will be derived will give an idea about the causes of drug abuse. The basic anticipated causes would be: poverty, hunger, corruption, depression, frustration, over population, lack of effective parenting, easy availability of illicit drugs, illiteracy, etc (Jalilian, et.al, 2015). As the lower social and economic conditions are the breeding ground of these causes, drug abuse is adversely affecting this section of under privileged youth and teenagers. As the poorer people are not getting a good quality of life, they are going astray and are adopting a wrong path. Drugs are affecting their health conditions and in many situations due to over does of their illicit drug intake, the people are dying (Palacios, 2017).

This research would be relevant for all as it investigates into a social issue. However, for the parents who have children reaching their teens or youth, it would be effective to know the causes behind the spread of addiction. They can cater to the emotional needs of their children. The social workers would benefit as they can work for the betterment of the society and eliminating this social problem. The doctors would find the research proposal beneficial as they could treat the addicts in a better way.

After the completion of the research work on the drug abuse among children and youth, I would like to share the results at different academic conferences so that more people benefit from my findings. In fact, I will also try to publish my paper in different academic journals. This will be beneficial for the participants as well who can refer to the paper and its results repeatedly.

References

Abuse, S. and Administration, M.H.S., 2016. 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Bachman, J.G., O’Malley, P.M., Schulenberg, J.E., Johnston, L.D., Bryant, A.L. and Merline, A.C., 2014. The decline of substance use in young adulthood: Changes in social activities, roles, and beliefs. 5^th ed. London: Psychology Press.

Intended Research Impact/Contribution

Chapman, S.L.C. and Wu, L.T., 2014. E-cigarette prevalence and correlates of use among adolescents versus adults: a review and comparison. Journal of psychiatric research, 54, pp.43-54.

Fuller, C.M., Vlahov, D., Arria, A.M., Ompad, D.C., Garfein, R. and Strathdee, S.A., 2016. Factors associated with adolescent initiation of injection drug use. Public health reports. 68(5), pp. 15-25.

Hall, W., 2015. What has research over the past two decades revealed about the adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use?. Addiction, 110(1), pp.19-35.

Hawkins, J.D. and Weis, J.G., 2017. The social development model: An integrated approach to delinquency prevention. 5^th ed. Abingdon: Routledge.

Hemphill, S.A. and Heerde, J.A., 2014.Adolescent predictors of young adult cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among Australian youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(4), pp.580-587.

Jalilian, F., KaramiMatin, B., Ahmadpanah, M., Ataee, M., AhmadiJouybari, T., Eslami, A.A. and Mirzaei Alavijeh, M., 2015. Socio-demographic characteristics associated with cigarettes smoking, drug abuse and alcohol drinking among male medical university students in Iran. Journal of Research in Health Sciences, 15(1), pp.42-46.

Johnston, L.D., Miech, R.A., O’Malley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., Schulenberg, J.E. and Patrick, M.E., 2018. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2017: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. London: Pearson.

Kelly, A.B., Evans?Whipp, T.J., Smith, R., Chan, G.C., Toumbourou, J.W., Patton, G.C., Hemphill, S.A., Hall, W.D. and Catalano, R.F., 2015. A longitudinal study of the association of adolescent polydrug use, alcohol use and high school non?completion. Addiction, 110(4), pp.627-635.

Kolodny, A., Courtwright, D.T., Hwang, C.S., Kreiner, P., Eadie, J.L., Clark, T.W. and Alexander, G.C., 2015. The prescription opioid and heroin crisis: a public health approach to an epidemic of addiction. Annual review of public health, 36, pp.559-574.

Kuehn, B.M., 2014. Driven by prescription drug abuse, heroin use increases among suburban and rural whites. Jama, 312(2), pp.118-119.

McHugh, R.K., Nielsen, S. and Weiss, R.D., 2015. Prescription drug abuse: from epidemiology to public policy. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 48(1), pp.1-7.

Moore, D., Fraser, S., Törrönen, J. and Tinghög, M.E., 2015. Sameness and difference: Metaphor and politics in the constitution of addiction, social exclusion and gender in Australian and Swedish drug policy. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(4), pp.420-428.

Palacios, W.R., 2017. Prescription Drug Abuse. The Encyclopedia of Juvenile Delinquency and Justice, pp.1-3.

Scholes-Balog, K.E., Hemphill, S.A., Evans-Whipp, T.J., Toumbourou, J.W. and Patton, G.C., 2016. Developmental trajectories of adolescent cannabis use and their relationship to young adult social and behavioural adjustment: A longitudinal study of Australian youth. Addictive behaviors, 53, pp.11-18.

Silins, E., Horwood, L.J., Patton, G.C., Fergusson, D.M., Olsson, C.A., Hutchinson, D.M., Spry, E., Toumbourou, J.W., Degenhardt, L., Swift, W. and Coffey, C., 2014. Young adult sequelae of adolescent cannabis use: an integrative analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(4), pp.286-293.

Trapp, G.S., Allen, K.L., O’Sullivan, T., Robinson, M., Jacoby, P. and Oddy, W.H., 2014. Energy drink consumption among young Australian adults: associations with alcohol and illicit drug use. Drug and alcohol dependence, 134, pp.30-37.

Wakeford, A.G., Morin, E.M., Bramlett, S.N., Howell, L.L. and Sanchez, M.M., 2018. A review of nonhuman primate models of early life stress and adolescent drug abuse. Neurobiology of Stress, 89(5), pp. 89-110.

Winters, K.C., Tanner-Smith, E.E., Bresani, E. and Meyers, K., 2014. Current advances in the treatment of adolescent drug use. Adolescent health, medicine and therapeutics, 5, p.199.