TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Inhalant abuse among street-involved children and adolescents in India: case for epistemic recognition and reorientation JO - Journal of research on adolescence A1 - Shaikh, Ajazuddin A1 - Sarin, Ankur SP - 366 EP - 379 VL - 34 IS - 2 N2 - Contextualizing the void of research on inhalant abuse among adolescents as epistemic neglect, in this study, we use mixed-methods action research to understand inhalant abuse in a specific context in the Global South. Focusing on a large metropolitan city in Western India, we surveyed 158 street-involved children and adolescents (110 boys and 48 girls, age range from 5 to 17 years) in a group setting along with follow-up group interviews. Despite finding a high prevalence rate of inhalant abuse, our work suggests an absence of supporting structures and emphasizes the need to revisit our understanding and interpretation of substance-using behavior of street-involved youth. Instead of explaining inhalant-abusing behavior as emerging from pathological deficiencies in individuals or households, we stress the need to critically examine the exploitative environment they are embedded in. In doing so, we join efforts to decolonize conventional ways of understanding "deviant" behavior.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1050-8392 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jora.12946 ID - ref1 ER -