Psychological Influences on Drug Use

Psychological and Social-Cultural Influences on Drug Use

When a person decides to consume drugs, it can be the result of several psychological influences such as their mental state, feelings, or emotions. They may lack a sense of purpose. Or maybe they are in a season in their lives when they are dealing with a significant amount of stress. Other times, they may be struggling with some type of psychological disorder such as depression and decide to use drugs to cope with their symptoms. Psychological factors can play a large role in a person's decision to use drugs.

Other times, a person's environment and social-cultural influences will impact their decision to use substances. Social-cultural influences can be especially impactful in an adolescent's life. During this time, we care a lot about what our peers think about us. We're also usually egocentric during adolescence.

Social-cultural influences can come in several different forms: modeling (copying parents, friends, peers, siblings), perceived norms of behavior, school policies (restricting or enforcing prohibited drug use), media representations, or legal policies (legal drinking age, cigarette tax). Social-cultural influences can come from any direction. If a person is in a difficult environment (i.e. abuse), has a negative peer influence, or believes it is culturally accepted to use drugs, this can play a large role in their decision to use them.

Psychological Influences on Behavior

Psychological factors include motivation, perception, learning, and attitude (beliefs). Psychological influences on behavior play a large role in a person's decision to use (or quit) drugs. Many people who choose to use drugs may have thoughts that lead to them feeling as though their lives are meaningless or directionless. It may be common for school dropouts who may have similar feelings about their lives. Girls who have a history of eating disorders, depression, or sexual and physical abuse may also be more at risk for substance use.

Additional therapy for other mental health conditions, Pikwizard.com

People may find themselves using drugs to avoid coping with or dulling their psychological pain. In fact, substance use commonly occurs (or is co-morbid) with other mental disorders. Many times, people who are being treated for substance use are also being treated for another mental health condition. Substance use itself can lead to psychological disturbances in a person's social, spiritual, and emotional well-being.

Psychological factors can also influence a person's decision to stop using substances. One of the main predictors of whether or not a person will stop using substances is their motivation to stop using substances. This is often a primary focus in treating substance abuse disorders. If a person is not ready or motivated to stop using drugs, it is very unlikely that they will. Counselors will often use a large amount of time in therapy helping a person decide what motivates them to change their lives and stop using drugs.

Other psychological influences on a person's decision to stop using drugs include feelings of happiness or high self-esteem. A person might feel no need to use substances because they discovered they feel better or happier without them. Or maybe they have such high esteem for themselves and their bodies that they decide they want to treat themselves respectfully by no longer partaking in substances.

Examples of Psychological Influences on Drug Use

Other psychological influences examples can be seen in children whose parents abused substances and are at greater risk of using substances later in their lives. If you watched your parents cope with stress by drinking and never saw them use healthy coping strategies, you might find yourself doing the same later in life. Drinking is the only coping strategy you've learned.

Addiction, Freepik.com

Also, substance use and parental abuse or neglect commonly occur together. This can be a significant psychological influence. To deal with past trauma or to fill the void of not always having their parents around, a person might turn to drugs to feel better. The only thing is that a substance is only a temporary fix, and running away from your problems will never make them go away and may cause even more psychological distress in the end.

Normative Social Influence Psychology Definition

Social-cultural influences may impact us for many reasons. One of the most common types of social influences a person may face with drug use is normative social influence.

Normative social influence seems to occur most frequently during adolescence. Adolescence is a time in which the opinion of our peers has a significant effect on our behavior. The last thing we want is to look or feel like an outcast. As a result, we conform. We alter our actions and demeanor so we will be more liked by our others. The more we care about a person, the more we will be influenced by their opinion of us.

Cigarette companies use this concept to their advantage. If they can make it look cool or culturally accepted to smoke, they may be able to convince a few teens that they have to smoke to fit in. Teens typically start smoking if their friends also smoke. Social pressure to consume alcohol usually occurs at parties thrown by your peers.

Cigarette companies try to make smoking look cool, Freepik.com

Normative social influences can be at play even if we perceive that certain behavior is socially acceptable. For example, all your friends actually might not want to use drugs. But since you perceive that they do (and they perceive that you do), you feel pressured to partake as well and vice versa. Normative social influences are often based on perception rather than reality.

Normative social influences are not only at play in a person's choice to use drugs but also in a person's choice not to use drugs. For example, alcohol and other drug addiction rates are commonly lower among religious people (DeWall et al., 2014). If it is not socially acceptable in your social group to use drugs, it is much less likely for you to use them for fear of rejection.

Informational Social Influence Psychology Definition

It is easy to confuse the informational social influence psychology definition with the normative social influence definition.

The clearest difference between informational and normative social influence is that if a normative social influence is at play, people will change their behavior regardless of how accurate or "right" they think the group is. All your friends may decide to go egg someone's car. You know it's not the right thing to do but you do it anyway because you are too afraid of being outcasted.

If an informational social influence is at play, you only go along with it because you believe the group knows something you don't know and they must be right.

It's important to pay attention to a person's intentions when evaluating what type of social influence a person is experiencing. If you decide not to do drugs because your religious group says it's wrong and you believe they know what is right, this is an informational social influence. If you decide not to do drugs because you're afraid you'll be rejected by your religious group because drug use is frowned upon, then this is a normative social influence.