Couples' reciprocal patterns in narcotics addiction: A recommendation on treatment strategy

Abstract

Couples that include an addict establish over time a stable pattern of deviant behavior that is reciprocally influenced by each spouse's level of drug use. Adequate intervention strategies must understand this dynamic in order to promote successful change. This article describes how behavioral patterns of narcotics addicts are affected by their spouses' addictive consumption of drugs. Analyses are conducted for men and women separately to explore gender differences with the use of retrospective self‐report data on addiction histories collected from over 600 addicts who were admitted to methadone maintenance clinics in Southern California. Time‐series analyses are conducted at the aggregate level to examine dynamic relationships between self's and spouse's narcotics use and other behaviors (e.g., employment, crime involvement, and alcohol use). Results indicate gender differences in conformity to spouse's drug use, especially for women, and in the effects of addiction on the related behaviors. These results suggest that intervention efforts should extend to addicts' partners in addition to the addicts themselves. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

How ethics influence intentions to buy counterfeit drugs: perceptions of policymakers, community pharmacists and consumers in Sudan

“…Many studies have found that people will not only exhibit deviant behaviour because of peer pressure but will also tolerate and accept deviant behaviour if they have peer support. [15,17,22,39] Previous literature has found that there are consumers called 'sly shoppers' who buy counterfeit products comparable to authentic products but at bargain prices. Those consumers will buy counterfeit products even if they can afford to buy non-counterfeit products.…”

“…[14] Similarly, peer pressure to conform has been identified as a factor leading to inappropriate consumer behaviour. [15][16][17] Whereas peer support of the behaviour encourages participation, peer rejection of the behaviour serves as a deterrent. Social controls may be an even better deterrent to crime than physical controls because individuals will attempt to avoid exposure if they engage in behaviour that is not supported by their peers.…”

Consumer behaviour towards counterfeit drugs in a developing country

“…Also, this finding is consistent with previous findings on the influence of societal and peer pressure on a consumer's decision to engage in a deviant behaviour. [15][16][17] This finding, that societal pressures from family or friends have greater impact on counterfeit drugs purchase intent than consumer's attitudes towards the behaviour, could be exploited in designing combat strategies. The purchasing of counterfeit drugs in developing countries may be discouraged if potential buyers can be convinced that their families and friends will not support this behaviour.…”

Interpersonal effects of health-related social control: Positive and negative influence, partner health transformations, and relationship quality

“…Indeed, Homish and Leonard (2008) noted that both healthy and unhealthy behaviors of one individual could be an influential source of behavior change for one’s partner within a romantic relationship. As examples, sometimes individuals reported engaging in unhealthy behaviors because their partners also engage in this behavior (e.g., drug use, Powers & Anglin, 1996), or because social control attempts by one’s social network were too frequent (Lewis & Rook, 1999). In addition to examining healthy behavior transformations, this study examines the extent to which partners engage in unhealthy transformations of the aforementioned behaviors and also aims to understand these transformations in light of the frequency and breadth of influence communicated in these relationships.…”