Club Drugs, Dance Events, and Asian-American Youth

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The focus of this proposed 48 months qualitative continuation project is to expand our existing and on-going research on the overall culture of club drugs use in the San Francisco Bay Area. The prominence of Asian Americans and their drug using practices leads us to propose a change in focus from the scene in its entirety to a detailed examination of the involvement of Asian Americans within the techno dance scene. We will focus on the following four research issues: 1) What are the social, gender and ethnic characteristics of Asian American users of club drugs? 2) What are the patterns, variations and combinations of club drugs used by different Asian ethnic youth subgroups and how do they compare with the larger sample in the parent project? 3) What are the various social settings in which Asian American youth and young adults use club drugs? 4) What are the social processes of club drug use among different Asian ethnic youth? Using primarily qualitative and ethnographic research methods, we will locate and interview 360 young Asian American youth and young adults, between the ages of 16-25, who have used one or more club drugs three or more times in the previous six months. The sample will be sub-divided into equal numbers of male and female and proportionate numbers of immigrants and U.S. born youth. After an initial mapping of Asian participation in the scene, the sampling frame will be expanded to accommodate representative numbers of different Asian ethnic groups. This project is important for two reasons. First, it will provide much needed empirical data on a growing but understudied population, and possible intra-ethnic variations. While our on-going research seeks to understand the overall social context of club drug use, the proposed research seeks not only to document the extent to which club drugs are used by Asian American youth but to uncover the connections between drug use, involvement in the dance scene and ethnic identity. Second, given the reported increase in problems of club drug use among Asian American youth, data from this project will provide important information on their use of club drugs, their patterns of use and the health and social consequences of their use. This information will assist in designing more effective and culturally appropriate public health initiatives and prevention messages to alert young Asian American adults about the dangers of these drugs.