An Investigation Into the Social Profiles of Drug-Addicted Adolescents in Turkey

Abstract

Purpose of Review The study aims to examine the relationship between crime rates among drug-addicted adolescents and personal, social, and familial factors as well as street and school factors. The participants included 713 male drug-addicted adolescents who had received residential treatment at a psychiatry clinic between 2013 and 2020. The "Patient Medical History Form" created by the experts of the clinic was used as a data collection tool. The binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine significant predictive variables increasing the probability of drug-addicted adolescents to be included in the categories of living on the street, committing crimes, school dropout, suicide attempt, and self-harm behavior.

Recent Findings The findings showed that age, father-adolescent relationship, school dropout, and having an employment history significantly predicted the factor of living on the street; age, school dropout, street life history, drug use in the extended family, and having a criminal history in the extended family significantly predicted the factor of committing crimes; and having an employment history, drug use in the extended family, and having a criminal history significantly predicted the school dropout factor. Besides, suicidal ideation and self-harm behavior significantly predicted the factor of attempting suicide; similarly, age, street life, and having a prison history significantly predicted the possibility of self-harm behavior of the adolescents.

Summary The results showed that personal, social, and familial factors, as well as street and school factors, and crime rates were associated with addictive behavior among drug-addicted adolescents.