Negative emotions, dropping out of high school and drug use

Lawrence W.

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Negative emotions, dropping out of high school and drug use

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Abstract

Sociologists study the dynamics of the self, interaction, social structure, and culture. Questions such as the following are raised: What self-processes emerge over time, and within and across what situations? What occurs when individuals take account of each other? How do people build, sustain, or train social structures? What kinds of symbol systems do humans develop and how do they use them to regulate their conduct? These questions are at the core of the study of sociology. Thus when sociologists turned to the study of emotions, they were interested in how emotions influenced the self, how the flow of interaction was shaped by emotions, how people developed emotional attachments and commitments to social structures and cultural symbols, how emotions sustained or changed social structures and cultural symbols, and how social structures and cultural symbols constrained the experience and expression of emotions.

Introduction.
General Strain theory.
1. Propensity to abuse drugs.
2. Tthree different types of stressors that generate negative emotions.
3. Drug abuse is a natural consequence of dropping out of high school.
Effects of being excluded of the social structure.
1. Emotion is a crucial factor.
2. Experiencing social exclusion as a result of dropping out of high school.
Self-conscious emotions.
1. Shame and guilt.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

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[...] When one drops out of high school, they are having that positive influence removed from them, and this can create negative emotions, such as guilt and shame, which can lead to behaviour like abusing drugs. (Drapela, 2006). When one experiences negative emotions from dropping out of high school, they are likely to act in a deviant manner. The effects of this strain can be collective, the succession of many continually occurring negative events, or can even be the product of isolated events. [...]

[...] These emotions provide for a way to punish or reward one's self for their behaviour. As such, when a young student drops out of high school, they are likely to experience the self-conscious emotions of shame, guilt, and embarrassment for their action. These emotions can then act to affect the moral actions taken by the self. This can include the immoral action of drug abuse. (Tangney, 2007). Shame and guilt are two of the most prominent negative, self-conscious emotions that are experienced by someone who drops out of high school. [...]

[...] Dropping out of high school can all cause the negative emotions of depression and despair. These emotions can result in “inner-directed delinquency” (Drapela, 2006) which can be drug abuse. These emotions do not result in the same level of inhibition that anger provides, but can still result in the same results, that being turned to drugs as a coping mechanism. (Drapela, 2006). The general strain theory asserts that drug abuse is a natural consequence of dropping out of high school, and a unique adaptation from delinquency “because it is conceptualized as a way of managing (or escaping) negative emotions brought on by strain” such as that experienced from dropping out of high school, “rather than reacting to such emotions with volatility.” (Drapela, 2006: 756). [...]

[...] The forces that these negative emotions illicit in the dropout cause them to be much more likely to abuse drugs than someone who does not drop out of high school, and does not experience the same degree of negative emotion (it is not being said that those in high school do not experience negative emotions, as they likely do, but this is a different topic worthy of a different study). If the parents did not create those negative emotions within their dropout child, for example if their response was more neutral or assistance-based, then the dropouts would not experience the negative emotions to the same degree, and would be less likely to engage in drug abuse as a way of coping. [...]

[...] What can be taken from their study is the assertion that, those students that drop out of high school and experience feeling of shame and guilt (which is likely to happen), will be more likely to engage in drug use as means of coping with their negative emotions. This essay has discussed how emotional processes and social structure are related to the moral/ethical aspects of a specific set of social relations. We looked at the negative emotions that are created in those people that drop out if high school before they graduate, and how these people are more likely to engage in immoral and unethical behaviour such as drug use, as a way of coping. [...]

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