Reputation and adolescent drug use: A focus group study

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Abstract
Thirty four high school students were assigned to one of six focus groups according to their self-reported drug status (i.e., user, ex-user, nonuser). Allgroups viewed the same two video vignettes, and a drug user was identified as the target character in the second vignette. At the completion of each vignette they answered a series of questions about the target character in each video. Results indicated that adolescents assign reputations to persons according to the activities in which they engage, and that this assignment is influenced by their own similar or dissimilar activities. An analysis of vocabulary revealed that meaning was context specific to the subculture. In many instances nonusers were unaware of the meaning of the vocabulary used by their drug using peers.