Young women's use of medicines: autonomy and positioning in relation to family and peer norms

Medicine use among youths is widespread and on the increase. This is especially true for young females, whose utilization of a variety of medications grows considerably during the teenage years. This user perspective study aims to obtain a greater understanding of what young women perceive as the norms for medicine use at home and among peers, and how these perceptions are reflected in their own use of medicine. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 young Danish women between the ages of 16 and 20. During the interviews, participants described their perceptions regarding usual medicine taking practices and ideas about appropriate medicine use within their family and peer group. Young women possessed a keen awareness of medicine-related norms, although medicine use was a topic only rarely discussed with others. At the interface of these themes pertaining to family and peer norms, a unifying concept involving growing autonomy in medicine use emerged. This concept consisted of three parts: the great influence of family norms when autonomy was limited, growing autonomy under changing influences and assertion of autonomy and positioning of own behaviour relative to the norm. This study's findings indicate that despite increases in autonomy in medicine use, normative perceptions continued to serve as important reference points for informants' own medicine taking behaviour. Practitioners involved in the health care and promotion of youth may benefit from an increased awareness of the influential role that perceived norms in peer and family contexts can play in young women's use of medicine.