Drug Use and the Role of Homelessness in the Process of Marginalization

The marginalization theory of life histories implies that drug users who are considered as marginalized manifest more serious social, economical, physical, and psychological problems than nonmarginalized drug users. The degree of marginalization is assumed to be an indicator of homelessness. The the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Substance use & misuse 2003, Vol.38 (3-6), p.311-338
Main Authors: Coumans, Moniek, Spreen, Marinus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Drift factor
Drug Abuse
Drug abusers
Drug Addiction
Drug scene
Drug use
Female
Hardness
Health Status
Homeless Persons - psychology
Homeless Persons - statistics & numerical data
Homelessness
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Marginality
Marginalization
Netherlands
Netherlands - epidemiology
Psychological Theory
Psychology, Social
Qualitative and quantitative methods
Sampling Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Social deterioration
Socioeconomic Factors
Substance-Related Disorders - diagnosis
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
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Summary:The marginalization theory of life histories implies that drug users who are considered as marginalized manifest more serious social, economical, physical, and psychological problems than nonmarginalized drug users. The degree of marginalization is assumed to be an indicator of homelessness. The theory argues that homelessness is a stage in the life of a user that is associated with the loss of control of use. In this paper the effects of the dimensions of marginalization on homelessness are reported. The marginalization theory emerged from ethnographic fieldwork research among the drug users population in Parkstad Limburg, the Netherlands. Ethnographic fieldwork is often restricted to a (selective observed) part of the total population. To verify whether the marginalization theory was valid for the total unknown population, we used quantitative data obtained in 1999 by a two-mode network sample (n = 58). As a conclusion homelessness was more likely to be present among marginalized than nonmarginalized drug users.
ISSN:1082-6084
1532-2491
DOI:10.1081/JA-120017376