International Abstracts

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

Moniek Coumans, M.Sc. and Marinus Spreen, Ph.D. [Substance Use & Misuse, 38(3–6), 311–338 (2003)]

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 article 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.