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Juvenile and drugs

Fascination of contesting identities

Eero Suoninen, PhD, works as an Assistant Professor and as a Docent in Social Psychology (University of Tampere). His main fields of interest are face-to-face interaction in social work and therapy, interaction between adults and children, social constructionism and discourse analysis. Address: Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, 33014 University of Tampere, Finland. [email: eero.suoninen{at}uta.fi]

Elina Virokannas

Elina Virokannas, PhD, works as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests are related to the issues of drug use and marginalisation, youth research and social constructionism. Address: Department of Social Policy, Box 18, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. [email: elina.virokannas{at}helsinki.fi]

The article focuses on the self-conceptions of a juvenile who uses drugs. Different dimensions of categories and connotations are analyzed in an interview given by a young girl who has used hard drugs for several years. The analysis aims at making clear the spectrum of culturally given resources that are available for a young person with a drug history when she attempts to make her life understandable. By concentrating on one young person's story, the analysis illustrates that a variation of self-conceptions is not about differences between individuals, but is more about the general cultural alternatives of different categories. The variation of self-conceptions is abstracted into four alternative identity types that associate with very different attributes and activity types. The analysis demonstrates how a young person with a drug history both applies the attributes of generally known categories and takes distance from these depending on the identity type. Based on the analysis of these four identities, some conclusions are drawn about the possibilities of parents or other adults to support the identity constructions of a juvenile with a drug history.

Key Words: addiction • drugs • Finland • identity • interview • social constructionism • young people.

Young, Vol. 16, No. 1, 47-65 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/110330880701600104


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