Drug addiction is the excessive and abnormal dependence on drugs or any other substances which render the user psychologically attached to them (Foshee et al, 349-56). It is a social challenge which does affect not only the addict but also the people around and the society as a whole. Addiction to drugs and to be more specific in the United States does not only affect the elderly but every one of all ages and gender. A lot of campaigns and awareness have been exercised by both governmental and non-governmental bodies including the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in combating this social vice, but there is still more that needs to do. What are the effects of drug addiction? There is a sense in which results of drugs addiction have always been attached to the user ignoring the fact that the same inflict adverse effects on other people especially family members.
The paper focuses on the theory of interactionism to unfold how drug addiction affects relationships and in this case family relationships. One would want to know how exactly drug addiction jeopardizes the relationship between the addict and the family members as well as other people. In as much as drug addicts are part of the society, there is a sense in which their excessive dependence on drugs affects their code of conduct, moral values which directly affects their rapport with other people as they interact. Addiction is a psychological phenomenon, and it has indeed a substantial influence on one’s demeanor which in many times tends to be an adverse effect (Foshee et al., 350-53).
How does drug addiction affect people’s interaction with their families and what is the ultimate effect on that relationship? I would want to establish how addicts interact with their family members and most important develop the consequences of that interaction. It is compulsory that drug addiction must always evoke negative influence, there are instances where the same does not affect family relationship negatively. Thus the essence of this research is to gather information which upon analysis will be able to provide a substantive, rational, informative and logical answer to the research question.
I would opt for qualitative data in my research. Why qualitative data? Qualitative data would enhance the provision of in-depth analysis (Degenhardt " Wayne 55-63). For instance, a family member may disagree and say that drug addicts do not foster good relationships at the family level. At that point, I would be prompted to ask why to excavate more information. Another advantage of qualitative data is that it is easy to analyze and interpret. I would not be dealing with figures here but only general data obtained from the respondents and so there is no calculations or counting that is needed to be done to conclude. It is just about reading the responses and making a decision depending on where the majority lies. Qualitative data also captures attitudes and behavior which is useful in analyzing data. I would be able to get different attitudes from people on how addicts interact with their families; it is not just about the response alone but also the opinion of the respondent towards the research question.
It would be appropriate for me to collect data from a sample which I would randomly select within California. Sampling is vital in managing qualitative data because one, they save time, they are cheap to conduct as finally, the information obtained is a representation of the whole population (Bachman et al., 45-55) That is why I would go for sampling method. I would use in-depth interviews method of collecting data, where I would interview relatively a few people and gather information. One advantage of an in-depth interview is that I would be in a position to obtain first-hand knowledge from all the family members. I would also be in a place to get family member’s personal experiences if any as they interact with drug addicts. How are they affected? What influence do the addicts have to the overall family lifestyle? This kind of questions will be right enough to get reactions and insights from the respondents in detail.
My population will comprise of 100 randomly selected people within California. From this number, I would expect to get different information where a fraction of it might not have encountered drug addiction while the rest have. That is very important so that at the end of the day data comparison becomes vital. Moreover, I would make sure that within the 100 people I am going to interview that they comprise of teenagers, youth, and the adults. It has another advantage in the sense that I would be able to gather information from different age groups both addicts and non-addicts. Some of the questions I would administer to the addicts would be how long they have been addicts. When did they start using drugs? What has been the effects of the drugs on their personal lives? Do they have families? How do they relate to their families? And to the people who have an addict in their family will be able to provide information on how they perceive their addicted member? How do they treat him or her? How different is life before and after one of their family member got addicted to drugs?
I would use qualitative coding and more specifically axial coding to analyze my data. I would want to represent my data as text file comprising of concepts and explanations. I would outline all the responses obtained from addicts on one side, and that from non-addicts on the other hand then try and juxtapose the reactions and come up with a conclusion.
As a researcher, I would expect to encounter challenges in conducting this study. One apparent difficulty might arise from hostile respondents who might not want to be interviewed, and this would be a big drawback in the field. The interviewees might deliberately fail to provide accurate information regarding the subject matter, and that immensely affects the accuracy of the data collected. There is also the issue of privacy. Some people may not be willing to share any information about their personal lives and experiences and that possess a big challenge when it comes to data collection. Also, on the sample population selected, adequate information may not be collected sufficient enough to analyze. On this note, it is prudent to ensure that random sampling is done wisely to have a complete representation of the population.
I find this research so much viable and relevant to the topic of study. It would not be encouraging to see that drug addiction ruins family relationships or interactions. At the same time, it would not be pleasing establishing that drug addicts cannot foster friendly relationships with their families. I find this research entirely applicable in assisting the society in focusing more on accommodating drugs addicts first and then initiating a logical process that would lead to reviving fallen relationships and strengthening loose family ties which might have been compromised due to drug addiction.
Works Cited
Bachman, Jerald G., et al. Smoking, drinking, and drug use in young adulthood: The impacts
of new freedoms and new responsibilities. Psychology Press, 2013: 45-85
Degenhardt, Louisa, and Wayne Hall. "Extent of illicit drug use and dependence, and their
contribution to the global burden of disease." The Lancet 379.9810 (2012): 55-70.
Foshee, Vangie A., et al. "Assessing the effects of Families for Safe Dates, a family-based
teen dating abuse prevention program." Journal of Adolescent Health 51.4 (2012):
349-356.
Volkow, Nora D., et al. "Adverse health effects of marijuana use." New England Journal of
Medicine 370.23 (2014): 2219-2227.
