Different theories as to why someone would engage in drug use, primarily marijuana use for this particular paper helps give a better understand. One of the sociological perspectives is the Strain theory. According to the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, ?General strain theory departs from traditional strain theories by emphasizing the role of the individual 's affective responses to negative life experiences in fostering deviant behavior.? In other words, it is the strain in not being able to legitimately fulfill personal needs which causes delinquency (Akers and Cochran, 1985). This is how one of the girls from the party would justify her use of marijuana. She cannot cope with what she has to deal with on a day-to-day basis so she engages in deviant behavior such as marijuana use. The also holds true to one of the articles in Degrees in Deviance, in ?The Bong and the weed? by Lana Wilson she states the reasons why some of her friends use the drug, ?Wilber and Morris smoke pot because it has the effect of mellowing them out, taking their minds off their problems. It allows them to withdraw and escape from things; it relieves tension??(Henry and Eaton, 1999). While this aspect focuses on a macro level of theory another perspective or theory focuses on a micro level of thought, Differential Association.

In my observations of the use marijuana it became clear to me that the motivation for the use of the drug is different for everyone. Whether it may be Strain Theory or Differential Association or both. There lies a reason in why people do what they do. They may or may not care if their behavior is seen as deviant, they engage in this activity because it gives some satisfaction to an unfulfilled need in their lives.

This sociological approach is another way to explain the behavior I observed. ??developed by Edwin Sutherland, differential association theory was originally formulated in terms of general criminal behavior, but it has been widely applied to adolescent delinquency and substance use?like other forms of social behavior, the theory assumes that individuals learn deviant behavior from other people. The learning of motives, attitudes, and techniques support deviant tendencies primarily occurs within intimate personal relationships.? (Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Aug 2000) Differential association explains the initial use of marijuana. For example, the guy who got his best friend to smoke marijuana with him at the party learned this behavior by someone who was close to him. He taught his best friend how to use the drug. Differential association also gives reason to why the students in Degrees of Deviance started to use the drug. In ?The Bong and the Weed,? the author reports, ?I don?t know anybody who didn?t start sm

Some topics in this essay:
United Nearly, Emile Durkheim, Degrees Deviance, Edwin Sutherland, Social Behavior, Differential Association, Wilber Morris, Adolescence Aug, Bong Weed, Akers Cochran, deviant behavior, differential association, strain theory, degrees deviance, bong weed, theory differential association, human services, youth adolescence, health human, illegal drug, theory differential, rest people party, department health human, journal youth adolescence, strain theory differential,