Abstract
This study delves into the habit of substance use among the municipal solid waste (MSW) workers belonging to the Scheduled Caste community in a neighbourhood of the Midnapur town of West Bengal. It seeks to assess the association of substance use with the socio-demographic and socio-economic status of the studied people from the perspective of the social stress theory proposed by Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend (1974, Stressful life events: Their nature and effects, John Wiley & Sons; 1981, Socioenvironmental factors, stress, and psychopathology, American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 128–164). The findings suggest a significant association between socio-demographic and socio-economic status and substance use for variables such as gender (p < .001), education (p = .01), marital status (p = .03), job type (p = .015) and family income (p < .001). The study also indicates occupational stresses and maladaptive coping mechanisms pushing these people to resort to self-inflicting behaviours of substance use. It is suggested that the problem of substance abuse may be mitigated with an effective implementation of the existing policies to prevent further vulnerability among these Scheduled Caste MSW workers.
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