Club Drug Initiation & HIV Risk of Mobile Suburban Youth

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的十年里，俱乐部吸毒在美国急剧增加。这些药物，包括MDMA，氯胺酮，GHB， 2C-B和甲基苯丙胺，已经从亚文化中扩散开来，特别是在锐舞场景中，现在被用于多种场景和环境中。尽管最近出现了这些趋势，但关于这些药物在美国的使用，特别是关于年轻人开始使用的研究仍然很少发表。尽管俱乐部药物研究议程在其他西方国家已经更加牢固地建立起来，但美国仍有很多工作要做。我们还不了解美国年轻人在俱乐部吸毒的模式，包括年轻人是谁、如何、何时以及在哪里吸毒。由于俱乐部吸毒是最近才出现的现象，因此了解青少年是如何开始吸毒的，以便了解这些毒品的扩散过程是很重要的。对曼哈顿城郊（桥隧）流动青年的研究可以为了解青少年俱乐部吸毒提供基础。这些年轻人是一个涉及多种社会背景的人群，城市社会场景以及他们日常的郊区社会存在。因此，这些年轻人参与了多个社会世界，提供了在不同社会环境下俱乐部吸毒模式的信息。此外，从郊区到曼哈顿旅行的年轻人是桥梁人口；也就是说，它们是城市青年与周边郊区青年之间传染病传播的潜在途径，反之亦然。然而，除了考虑过桥人口的传统方式之外，也许更重要的是，过桥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。除了越来越多的人担心这些药物的毒性和过量使用的可能性外，这些药物的使用也会导致危险的行为。某些给药途径使青年面临艾滋病毒和肝炎等健康问题的风险。此外，人们对年轻人使用这些物质可能导致的潜在性危险行为了解甚少。因此，确定俱乐部毒品开始和过渡到使用和滥用的后期阶段的途径是至关重要的。

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.