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Adolescent Substance Abuse and Leisure Boredom

NCJ Number
132120
Journal
Journal of Leisure Research Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: (1991) Pages: 260-271
Author(s)
S E Iso-Ahola; E D Crowley
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Questionnaires were administered to 39 adolescent substance abusers who met the criteria for the diagnosis of "psychoactive substance abuse" and a control group of 81 non-substance abusing adolescents to test the hypothesis that adolescent substance abusers are more likely to experience leisure as boredom than non-substance abusers.
Abstract
Substance abusers were significantly more bored with leisure than the non-substance abusers, thereby supporting the hypothesis. The two groups differed significantly from one another on ten leisure activities: substance abusers' participation frequency was significantly greater on the activities of football, baseball, gymnastics, skateboarding, rollerskating, attending concerts, and taking a drive; non-substance abusing subjects scored significantly higher on the activities of reading, playing tennis, and going to movies. If leisure activities fail to satisfy the need of substance abusers for optimal arousal, leisure boredom results, and drug use may be the only alternative. The findings suggest that a more experiential approach in treating adolescent substance abusers may be a preferable method for handling substance abuse than traditional cognitive and more passive approaches. 2 tables and 36 references (Author abstract modified)