Does Gender Greatly Affect The Abuse Substances - Assignment Example

Does Gender Greatly Affect The Abuse Substances? When was the last time that one sat down and decided to go over the data that is collected in the way in which different gender groups use and carry out their activities? For most people, this is close to on a daily basis because there is nothing that is short of being informative and debatable that is found. It is for this reason that everything and anything that can be split into the gender groups is debated upon. This ranges from the price difference in the clothes of men and women to the way in which some women are considered to be gold-diggers that are in search of rich men that will cater for them. These are the regular events that most people ask themselves because they occur on a daily basis. However, there is a growing menace that is plaguing society, and that is the rate at which people are consuming and abusing drugs. It is for this reason that the aim of the paper is to investigate the gender difference that arises in the abuse of drugs and whether it is truly connected to gender or lifestyle in general. Society believes that the abuse of drugs is something that can be brushed off as a vice that plagues the youths of society and that it is all based on the neglect that parents give their children; however, the case is quite the contrary. The abuse of drugs is mainly based on the influence that the children and the youth receive from the media and the friends that they walk and have around them. This has a role to play because there is the desire to fit the crowd and feel like one of the guys or girls in the group. It is with this thought in mind that many researchers have made the conclusion that most cases of substance abuse are rampant in girls because they are the easiest to be swayed and believe that they would like to fit in with the rest. However, this is an assumption that is half baked and short sighted. This is because, despite the fact that girls may have more raging hormones as compared to boys, it is the opposite that occurs: the male gender is the one that would fall prey to the temptation of drug abuse. This is backed by the fact that Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) carried out a survey and found that in the year 2011, of the 1.84 million people that were admitted for drug and substance abuse, 609,000 were females. This catered for 33.1 percent of the total as 66.9 percent were males (The TEDS Report: Gender Differences in Primary Substance of Abuse across Age Groups). The data that was used for analysis was one whereby the age group of the people that were surveyed was split into different group sets of intervals of seven years. This brought to light that the highest rates of drug and substance abuse occurred mostly between the ages of 25-34. However, this was not only for one gender but it was across the table for the general sample set. This catered for as total of 28.6 percent, 526,031 people, of the people that were admitted for drug and substance abuse. The data as well brought to light that the age at which a child is exposed to the substances and drugs that are abused is as low as 12 years old. This raised concern because there was no different group of data. There arose the idea that the reason as to why there was a large number of females that were involved in substance was because most of them were forced into the habit by their parents’ behavior towards them. However, this is a contradiction because there may arise the theory that the people are old enough to fend for themselves and can thus not be affected by the decisions of their parents. The major reason as to why there was a large number of women that were partaking in the drug or substance abuse was because it was not just a decision that they woke up and decided to make unwittingly (Inaba and Cohen). It was a decision that they opted for because they seemed to be tired of the struggles of life. It is believed that the main reason that most people get into drugs is to drown the sorrows and to keep them in check. The fact that the ladies are the most affected by their emotions, it is believed that those who lack the capability. It is for this reason that the average drug substance that is abused is alcohol with 33.3 percent of the females being culprits and 42.3 percent of the males admitted are culprits of alcohol abuse. The data proved that the rate at which people in society took substances was high due to the amount of drugs that they consumed (The TEDS Report: Gender Differences in Primary Substance of Abuse across Age Groups). The data was used in an attempt to answer the question of whether there is a relation between the gender of a person and the abuse of drugs that they took part in. The theory is somehow backed by the fact that, between the ages of 12 and 17, there was a greater ratio of women that used alcohol as their primary drug of abuse. However, this trend was broken as soon as the people managed to attain the age of adulthood. The theory was dispelled by the idea that there were a reduced number of women that were involved in drugs. It was proven by the fact that in all the substances that are abused proved that the male gender was the one that was most susceptible to the abuse of drugs. The drugs ranged from alcohol to prescribed drugs. No matter the substance, it was proven that the male person was the most likely to take part in drug abuse as compared to a woman. This is data that can be corroborated by the fact that the number and age at which children get into the drug trade is different depending on the gender. For the boys, most of them are pushed into the trade due to the loss of the family’s official bread winner and this will result in there being a desire to try and provide for the family and still pull the family out of the doldrums of poverty (Inaba and Cohen). It is with this theory that most people that were admitted for drug abuse confessed that they started their addiction at the height of their adolescence. It is further true that for the children that took part in the drug and substance trade, there was a push for the individual to try the drug and it is because of their age that they were not able to stop. When one starts at a tender age, it is difficult for one to take a step back and analyze the drawbacks of being a drug addict. The shocking fact is that according to the data that was collected, a number of the patients admitted that they did not get themselves into a trade and habit of drug abuse, it was due to the influence of an outside party; mostly a friend. The data was more than reliable in the assessment of the number of men and women that had taken part in drug abuse, however, the results had their own drawbacks that made the answering of the thesis question difficult. There were different figures at different times in the lives of the people that were studied, but it opened the eyes to the fact that there may have been a discrepancy due to the number of people that were used in the study. The world has close to a total of 7 billion people and the use of 1.84 million people to come to a conclusive assessment is short of accurate (Brandell). The other limitation that was associated with the study and the data was the fact that there was an ambiguous flow of data that dictated the rate of drug and substance abuse would be same, but there was a higher percentage among men. Based on the data that was collected, it is correct to ask the question of whether the gender has a role to play in the way in which drugs are abused. However, the fact that the sample data revolves around the fact that the surveyed group of people had more men as compared to women. The data made the question seem ambiguous and gave the impression that the best question that could have been put forth to the reader was to determine whether age had a role to play in the abuse of drug and substances. However, the data showed that there was a dominant gender that had a higher rate of drug and substance abuse at close to every interval that was tested. The male gender is the dominant gender that will take part in drug and substance abuse at a higher rate than female. In conclusion, there is no way in which gender may be considered as a major defining factor for drug and substance abuse, however, it has a role to play (Inaba and Cohen). The data showed that gender was just but a part in the ‘equation’ that affected the rate and drug abuse. Gender is something that should be considered as a variable in the determination of the drug that is abused. The fact that gender would be considered as a deciding factor in the abuse of drugs means that a drug dealer is more likely to sell to a man than a woman. This is a misconception. The gender of a person does not have anything to do with the drugs and the substances that are abused. The gender is just but a factor, a variable, which is used on the analysis despite the fact that there is a connection. Works Cited Brandell, Jerrold. Theory & practice in clinical social work. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2011. Print. Inaba, Darryl, and Cohen William. Uppers, downers, all arounders. Ashland: CNS Publications, 2011. Print. Unknown. "The TEDS Report: Gender Differences in Primary Substance of Abuse across Age Groups."Samhsa.gov, 2014. Web. 11 Apr 2014. . Read More