Sex, Drugs and Young People: International Perspectives

All over the world, young people have been the focus of recurrent moral panic concerning illicit drug and substance use. While there is global concern about teenage pregnancy and rising rates of sexually transmitted infection and HIV/AIDS, dominant portrayals suggest that young people - particularly 'adolescents' - are willful hedonists intent on self-destruction. Sex, Drugs and Young Peoplecalls into question the mainstream assumptions about adolescence and youth that underlie many of our understandings in relation to sexual practices and drug use among teenagers and young adults. The book provides a more complex view of the transition to adulthood as not merely biologically driven, but rather socially and culturally organized. Bringing together a range of cross-cultural and cross-national contributions, the book reveals similarities and differences that mark both sexuality and drug use among young people in different social and cultural settings. In doing so, it allows the reader tobuild up a clearer understanding of the challenges that must be faced in fields such as public health and education if we are to develop programmes that really serve the needs of young people. Sex, Drugs and Young Peoplewill be of interest to many professionals working with young people and is suitable for a wide range of multidisciplinary courses covering areas such as human sexuality, sex education, public health and social work.