Effects of social and spatial contexts on young latinas’ methamphetamine use initiation

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine methamphetamine (meth) use initiation as influenced by Latinas’ social positions within institutions (e.g., family and economy). We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in five women’s residential substance use treatment facilities in Los Angeles County with women who considered meth to be their primary drug of choice. Using an urban ethnographic framing, we demonstrate the effects of low-income young Latinas’ spatial- and social-context rendered vulnerability to abuse and neglect, and the resulting emotional distress, on meth use initiation. When considering pathways to substance use intervention for vulnerable Latina girls and women, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers need to understand substance use pathways as dynamic processes to cope with psychosocial stress while living in communities with easy access to illicit substances such as methamphetamine.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood sexual abuse
• domestic abuse
• economy
• family
• Latinas
• methamphetamine
• social institutions
• sociology
• urban ethnography

Acknowledgments

The PI wishes to express appreciation to Southern California Alcohol and Drug Programs for their support of this study, and to the women who shared their experiences. The authors would also like to thank Agustin Maximo Anastacio for his data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript development support, and Jo Gerrald for her editorial support.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K01 DA017647 to Dr. Alison Hamilton. At the time of the analysis and manuscript preparation, Dr. Ann Cheney was a Scholar with the HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program (HA-STTP), at the University of California Los Angeles, supported through an award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R25 DA035692); Ms. Vhuhwavho M. Nekhavhambe was a Scholar with the Tirisano Training Program at the University of California Los Angeles, supported through an award from the National Institute of Mental Health (R25 MH108170). During the preparation of this manuscript, Dr. Hamilton was supported through awards from NIMHD (MH093230 and MH100134).