Vulnerability to Narcotic Addiction: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

This is a report of fieldwork methodology and preliminary findings from a controlled retrospective study of vulnerability to narcotic addiction comparing three groups of males closely matched by neighborhood, age, and race: a community-wide sample of narcotic addicts; a nonaddicted control sample of age-eleven peer associates of the addicts; and a nonaddicted community control sample of age-eleven peers who did not associate with the addicts. Fieldwork experience and preliminary findings suggest a strong selective association between friendship and deviance among narcotic addicts and their age-eleven associates — a relationship that is much less common in the two control groups, particularly community controls. Association with older deviants was also more characteristic of addicts than for the peer or community controls. Experience in the study also attests to the feasibility and merit of capturing historical data via retrospective, reconstructive sampling methods.