Club Drug Initiation & HIV Risk of Mobile Suburban Youth

描述(由申请者提供)：在过去的十年里，美国俱乐部毒品的使用急剧增加。这些毒品，包括MDMA、氯胺酮、GHB、2C-B和甲基苯丙胺，已经从亚文化中扩散，特别是在狂欢场景中，现在被用于多种场景和背景。尽管有这些最近的趋势，但关于这些药物在美国的使用情况，特别是关于年轻人启动的研究，发表的研究仍然很少。尽管俱乐部药物研究的议程在其他西方国家已经更加稳固，但美国仍有很多工作要做。我们还不了解美国年轻人使用俱乐部毒品的模式，包括年轻人使用这些药物的人、方式、时间和地点。由于俱乐部吸毒是最近才出现的现象，重要的是了解青少年是如何开始吸毒的，以便了解这些毒品的传播过程。对曼哈顿流动郊区(桥梁和隧道)青少年的研究可以为青少年了解俱乐部吸毒提供基础性的了解。这些青年是一个涉及多重社会背景、城市社会场景以及他们日常的郊区社会存在的群体。因此，这些青年参与了多个社会世界，提供了关于不同社会环境中俱乐部吸毒模式的信息。此外，从郊区前往曼哈顿的年轻人是一个桥梁群体；也就是说，他们是传染病从城市青年传播到周围郊区青年的潜在途径，反之亦然。然而，除了桥牌人群被认为是传统的方式之外，或许更重要的是，桥牌和隧道青年是在人群之间传播健康信念、社会规范和与俱乐部吸毒有关的做法的工具，否则这些人群可能不会直接互动。除了人们越来越担心这些药物的毒性和可能过量服药外，使用这些药物还会使危险行为成为可能。某些给药途径使青少年面临健康问题的风险，如艾滋病毒和肝炎。此外，对年轻人使用这些物质可能造成的性危险行为也知之甚少。因此，确定药物启动和过渡到使用和滥用的后期阶段的途径至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Club drug use has increased dramatically in the United States over the last decade. These drugs, including MDMA, Ketamine, GHB, 2C-B, and Methamphetamine, have diffused from subcultures, particularly the rave scene, and are now used in multiple scenes and settings. Despite these recent trends, there remains little published research on the use of these drugs in America, particularly on initiation by young people. Though club drug research agendas have been more firmly established in other Western nations, much work remains in the United States. We do not yet have an understanding of the patterns of club drug use by American youth, including who, how, when, and where young people use these drugs. Since club drug use is a recent phenomenon, it is important to gain an understanding of how youth are being initiated, so as to understand the process of diffusion of these drugs. Research on mobile suburban (bridge and tunnel) youth in Manhattan can provide foundational understandings of club drug use among youth. These youth are a population involved in multiple social contexts, urban social scenes as well as their everyday suburban social existence. Thus, engaged in multiple social worlds, these youth offer information on the patterns of club drug use in varied social settings. Also, youth who travel from the suburbs to Manhattan are a bridge population; that is, they are potential routes of infectious disease transmission from urban youth to youth in surrounding suburbs and vice versa. Yet, aside from the traditional manner in which bridge populations are thought of, and perhaps more importantly, bridge and tunnel youth are vehicles for the diffusion of health beliefs, social norms, and practices pertaining to club drug use between populations who may not otherwise directly interact. Aside from the growing concern over the toxicity and potential for overdose with these drugs, the use of these drugs enables risky behaviors. Certain routes of administration place youth at risk for health problems, such as HIV and Hepatitis. Furthermore, there is little understanding of the potential sexual risk behaviors attributable to the use of these substances by young people. Determining the pathways to club drug initiation and transitions to later stages of use and abuse is, therefore, of utmost importance.