Reconstructing Cross-Cultural Meanings of Addiction Among Women from Three Countries

Caitlyn D. Placek (), Lora Adair, Ishita Jain, Sugandh Gupta, Vandana Phadke and Maninder Singh
Additional contact information
Caitlyn D. Placek: Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA
Lora Adair: Department of Life Sciences, Brunel University of London, London UB8 3PH, UK
Ishita Jain: Department of Wellbeing, Regent College London, London WC1R 4BH, UK
Sugandh Gupta: Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Vandana Phadke: Gait and Motion Analysis Lab, Center for Paediatric Orthopaedics and Disabilities, Gurugram 122002, India
Maninder Singh: Indian Spinal Injury Centre, Delhi 110037, India

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: The gender gap in drug use is narrowing in regions where access to criminalized substances, such as opioids, is increasing. While research shows that substance use is gendered, less is known about the cultural norms and values shaping women’s drug use, as most studies focus on men. Cross-national comparisons of cultural models of addiction are needed to better understand how addiction is perceived and to inform culturally responsive treatment approaches for women. This study examined cultural models of addiction among reproductive-aged women receiving treatment for substance misuse in London, Toronto, and Delhi. Participants completed a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended and free-list prompts. Findings revealed shared cultural models attributing drug use to psychological factors, such as self-medicating to manage negative emotions or enhance positive ones, as well as relational, developmental, and biological influences. In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of incorporating cultural models into research and treatment. By using an inductive approach to explore meanings surrounding drug use among people in recovery, researchers can better understand how interventions are received and interpreted through existing internal frameworks.

Keywords: culture; substance use disorders; hard-to-reach populations; free-listing; cultural domains (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1064/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1064/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:7:p:1064-:d:1693626

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().