Comparison of Life and Meaningful Parameters of Adolescent and Young Adult Drug Addicts

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to empirically investigate and compare the life and meaningful parameters of drug addicts of adolescent and young adult age. An attempt has been made to determine and compare the indicators of subjective control, functional state, and meaningful life orientations of two categories of drug addicts i. e. adolescents and young adults. The empirical basis of the research was made up of two groups of respondents who sought help at the City Addiction Clinical Hospital “Sociotherapy” (Kyiv, Ukraine): adolescent drug addicts aged 18–23 years (n = 52) and young adult patients aged 24–29 years (n = 46). Methods: bibliosemantic, comparative, psychological and diagnostic (valid questionnaires), method of systematic analysis and generalization, mathematical and statistical. Results. It has been found that youth drug addiction is a dynamic phenomenon that reveals concomitant signs of drug addicts’ behavior in different age groups. Adolescents with signs of addiction demonstrate a low level of subjective control, they do not see a connection between their actions and significant events for themselves; they show monotony, which determines the behavior of searching for sources of new sensations. Instead, drug addicts of young adult age are diagnosed with a higher level of subjective control, primarily in interpersonal relationships and in the field of achievement; they have a much higher severity of fatigue. It has been proven that drug addiction makes certain adjustments to the meaningful life orientations of young people. In particular, drug addicts of young adult age (compared to adolescents) have inadequate goals in life; they strive to live for today or even yesterday. Discussion and conclusions. The meaningful parameters of drug addiction among adolescents and young adults have been generalized and substantiated. The differences found in the indicators of respondents’ subjective control over the course and areas of their lives, which is likely to be a temptation to use drugs, have been explained. The peculiarities of the functional state of the respondents’ bodies, as well as the meaningful life orientations of drug-addicted youth have been outlined.