Opiate Addicted and Non-Addicted Siblings in a Slum Area

Abstract

Comparison of addicted and non-addicted siblings in a slum area supports an ideographic “relative deprivation-differential anticipation” explanation for current opiate addiction in the United States. The major sibling differences were the addicts' greater participation in street life at an early age and lesser work and schooling, despite as high or higher aspirations and ostensibly similar home settings and parental relationships. The addicts' current greater anomie and alienation may be more consequence than cause of this. What seems to have insulated the non-addict from drugs was an early commitment to becoming a conventional and conforming adult. These differentiations within single families have compatible explanations in reinforcement, opportunity, and stigmatization theories, and their existence contradicts the image of uniformly enculturating high delinquency neighborhoods.