TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of Later Life Events on Cessation Motivation of Older Adults with Substance Use Disorder in Hong Kong
AU - Cheng, Vincent S.
AU - Lapto, Florence K.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Katie Shu Sui Pui Charitable Trust—Research and Publication Fund (Project Reference No. KS 2020/01). The authors would like to thank the Public and Social Policy Research Centre, established with the substantial support of a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Reference No: UGC/IDS16/18), for its support. The authors also would like to thank the support from Centre for Criminology of HKU.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Life-course researchers have found that age-graded life events, such as marriage and employment, may provoke a turning point in the trajectories of substance use and motivate young adults with substance use disorder (SUD) to seek addiction treatment and cease illegal drug use. However, few studies have focused on the impact of the life events experienced by older adults with SUD in their later life on these trajectories. Even less is known about this phenomenon in non-Western contexts. Thus, we conducted interviews with 34 older individuals with SUD in Hong Kong and explored how later life events affected their motivation to cease illegal drug use. Our findings highlight the influence of age on how life events are experienced and the need for age-specific academic studies of substance use trajectories. The results also have implications for policymakers, as the criminalization and stigmatization of drug use may have a negative impact on the trajectories of substance use among older populations.
AB - Life-course researchers have found that age-graded life events, such as marriage and employment, may provoke a turning point in the trajectories of substance use and motivate young adults with substance use disorder (SUD) to seek addiction treatment and cease illegal drug use. However, few studies have focused on the impact of the life events experienced by older adults with SUD in their later life on these trajectories. Even less is known about this phenomenon in non-Western contexts. Thus, we conducted interviews with 34 older individuals with SUD in Hong Kong and explored how later life events affected their motivation to cease illegal drug use. Our findings highlight the influence of age on how life events are experienced and the need for age-specific academic studies of substance use trajectories. The results also have implications for policymakers, as the criminalization and stigmatization of drug use may have a negative impact on the trajectories of substance use among older populations.
KW - addiction treatment programs
KW - cessation motivation
KW - life course perspective
KW - life events
KW - older people
KW - older people with substance use disorder
KW - substance use
KW - substance use trajectories
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153536669&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0306624X231165421
DO - 10.1177/0306624X231165421
M3 - Article
C2 - 37085989
AN - SCOPUS:85153536669
SN - 0306-624X
VL - 67
SP - 1362
EP - 1382
JO - International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
JF - International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
IS - 13-14
ER -