In a time when children as young as 8 carry cell phones, and adults as old as 30 still live at home with mom and dad, it’s often tough to tell. One of the most common initiation into adulthood is the emergence into the after hours world of nightclubs. According to Kandel, This alluring world of dancing, alcohol, drugs, and sex, is tremendously tempting to young rebellious teens, and many others, wishing to find their own identity.
According to research there are many options, both positive and negative, available to youth through the club scene: popularity and acceptance from larger social groups, freedom of expression through dance, introduction to perceived forms of adult behavior, and is a gateway into the taboos of sex, drugs, and alcohol society. The purpose of this paper is to use Kandels model to analyze how socializing in the club scene influences behavior and choices youth make. The American idea of deviance has associated nightclubs as deviant establishments with gateways into other deviant behaviors.
The easily accessibility of drugs and alcohol, combined with myths and reckless behavior provide adolescents with a breeding ground for antisocial and criminal behavior. It is estimated that 7% of teens attend their first club as early as 11 years of age, with the overall age of first attendance at a nightclub, ranging from 13 to 15 years of age (Giddens, 1991). According to the National Drug Intelligence Center the club scene or what is described as the club scene takes place in what is defined as raves.
Raves are high-energy, all-night dances, which feature hard-pounding techno-music and flashing laser lights. Raves have increased in popularity among teens and young adults occurring in most metropolitan areas of the country. They can be either permanent dance clubs or commercially sponsored temporary weekend event. Temporary sites may be set up at various locations including abandoned warehouses, open fields, empty buildings, and civic centers. Raves are often promoted through flyers and advertisements distributed at clubs, record shops, clothing stores, on college campuses, and over the Internet.
Primarily, teens perceive entering the club scene as a way to launch their adult life. However, few tend to realize the consequences of their behavior (Kandel, 1998). Most current research has concluded negative outcomes from participation in the club scene. Using the theory of introduction to drugs and alcohol is the gateway for addictive personalities to thrive, combined with basic addiction theory; Dr. David Kandel purposed a sub-cultural model of causality describing the transgression through the club scene (Chart 1).
According to Kandel model there are 2 choices a person can make once they have entered the club scene. If a person chooses stage A, then a pattern of self-destructive behavior resulting in a) running away, or b) getting caught, is followed. If a person chooses stage B, then the pattern involves becoming an occasional party user. Kandels statistics suggest 2. 93 of 4 ravers (approximately 75%) choose choice B. However Kandel did suggest ties a limited number of ties from choice B to A.
The first stage of Kandels model describes attendance at raves in order to indulge in drugs and alcohol. It is estimated, by the DEA, that 13 million Americans are current drug users. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have indicated that there is a general trend to increase drug involvement through adolescence. The rates of initiation into cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana increase through age 18, and then decrease sharply. The frequency of use for different substances also shows increasing rates through adolescence (Kandel, 1998).
Studies have also found that use of various drugs shows a sequential pattern in adolescence whereby users progress from the use of one substance to another (Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989). According to the State of Hawaii-Department of Health, a much greater proportion of students are using alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on a monthly and daily basis than in previous years. It is estimated that 9. 8% of Hawaiis sixth to twelfth grade students need treatment for alcohol and/or drug abuse. Alcohol is still the most prevalent substance used by youth in Hawaii.
By grade six, 29. 8% have used; by eighth grade 54 % have used; and 75% of tenth and twelfth graders report the use of alcohol. Where lifetime prevalence rates for alcohol and various illicit drugs have generally stabilized over time, there is a drastic increase in reports of regular tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit drug use. Club drugs are used primarily by teens and young adults at raves. Raves have become key locations for club drug distribution. MDMA (a. k. a. Ecstasy, Ex, or E,) is one of the most popular club drugs.
Rave club owners and managers often sell items that are associated with MDMA abuse such as bottled water, pacifiers, menthol nasal inhalers, and glow sticks. “Ravers” drink water to offset dehydration and use pacifiers to prevent the grinding of teeth–two side effects of MDMA abuse. Menthol nasal inhalers and glow sticks are used to enhance the effects of MDMA because MDMA heightens sensory and light perception. According to the National Drug Intelligence Centers Hawaii Drug Threat Assessment in May 2002, MDMA abuse is increasing in Hawaii.
Also, the abuse of diverted pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin is increasing in Hawaii. As drug and alcohol abuse becomes more prevalent, Kandel describe the raver as transitioning into either Stage A or B. The entrance into Stage A signifies the transition from the introductory stage into the sustainment stage. The constant need to the fix becomes overwhelming to a point, where the subject will do anything he/she must to attain that fix. (Kandel 1998). As described, this is the stage where the criminal behavior tends to commence.
For women, Kandel initially suggest their solution, for money to provide for their addiction, is the occupations as prostitutes, with their pimps being their suppliers. For men, Kandel suggest they usually turn to stealing and illegally selling items for money. As many as one in 100 children in the United States ages 10 to 17 may be involved in the sex trade, through prostitution, stripping, lap dancing or pornography, according to a study released today that includes research done in Honolulu.
According to an article in the Star Bulletin, the age at which respondents first exchanged sex for money ranged from four to 50 years. About one third of the women entered prostitution before the age of 15, and 62% of the sample started in prostitution before their 18th birthdays. Side effects of the sex trade may include beatings or torture by pimps or customers, drug and alcohol abuse and use as mules to deliver drugs for organized crime (Burgess, 1986). For men, prostitution is usually out of the question. Kandel describe their criminal behavior as stealing and selling.
According to the DEA, crystal methamphetamine (“ice”) is the drug of choice in Hawaii, where it is readily available, with the majority of it converted into ice before distribution. In the past few years, ice-related crimes have increased as the drug has increased in popularity and availability. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center: Hawaii Drug Threat Assessment May 2002, the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program in revealed 38. 1% of adult males arrested from January September 2001 tested positive for meth abuse.
Furthermore, male and female arrestees in Honolulu tested positive for crystal-meth at a higher rate than for marijuana (29. 8%) and cocaine (11. 2%). As criminal activity increase Kandel suggest that 65% of teens engaging in parentally unacceptable criminal behavior, end up in the juvenile system, while 5% tend to become runaways. Three percent of American families have an adolescent run away from home each or approximately 1 out of 9 secondary school students may have a runaway history (Kandel, 1998). Approximately 12% of American youths run away at least once before the age of eighteen.
On any given night, there may be over a million adolescent runaways on the streets or “in the system” (Burgess, 1986). While Stage A consist of many various phases, Stage B consists of only one. While the majority (approx. 75%) of ravers fall into this category, few tend to stay there. Once the elements of any addition has been introduced, it is only a matter of time before they take root (Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989). Kendal fails to construe this aspect. Instead, he miss-constructs Stage B with emphasis on ties to social behavior including fear of punishment and standard growing-up.
If a child needs to be individualistic he/she could perhaps partake in minor forms of anti-social behavior. However, it is fear of unacceptance and punishment, which truly negotiates his/her behavior (Kandel, 1998). In conclusion, Kandel model of Causality is applicable, if one assumes a causal relationship between those factors. Kandels model gave a direct reaction to the causation of youth behavior from participation in the club scene. While national statistics for drug abuse and running away vary from state to state, Hawaiis statistics tends to be low among them.
However, one thing is clear, the anxiety of newborn independence, coupled with the exposure to exploitive deviant peers, high-risk behaviors, and physical victimization exacts an enormous psychological toll on the individual. While Kandels model encompasses multitudes of flaws, the effects conclude that if drugs are not available youth cannot use them, and the consequences of such use will not appear. Attempts to reduce the availability of drugs have not to date been very successful, as they run counter to the theory of supply and demand.
So more attention must also be paid to the demand side of the equation while continuing efforts directed at the reduction of supply. While Kandels complete model only represents a small portion of ravers choices, many still proceed through the first level and into the second without consequences. It is only once the drug addition is established, that the model is completed. The fast passed kayos the club scene portrays is just another way youth take on these qualities in hopes of breaking the mode of the normality.
