Resolutions and risk-taking in juvenile detention

A discussion of adolescent high-risk behavior and associated stigma is presented from the perspective of teenagers confined in juvenile detention. Data contributing to this discussion originate from a qualitative research study designed to discover the meaning detained adolescents associate with substance use/abuse and to describe how they make substance-related decisions while in juvenile detention. This pilot study was part of a program of ongoing ethnographic research in the setting of a large metropolitan juvenile detention facility (JDF). Twenty teenagers participated in the study during interviews and focus group discussions. A major theme among all six focus groups involved resolutions to quit drugs and alcohol after release. The trajectory of substance abuse interwoven in these discussions most frequently began with problems at home, progressed to substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors, and culminated in detention. All of the groups gave suggestions for the kind of help teenagers need most: someone to listen and to care.