A social identity approach to party drug use and associated harm minimisation

This project investigated party (club) drug use and associated harm minimisation strategies of party drug users (N = 72), by gender and sexual<br>orientation, to determine whether drug use and harm minimisation behaviours differ in particular social groups.Adopting a social identity approach, this project also explored the existence of a party drug user social identity in relation to harmful party drug behaviours and harm minimisation<br>strategies.Results indicated that males and females showed similar patterns of harmful party drug use and harm minimisation, whilst heterosexuals and homosexuals differed slightly in their patterns of harmful party drug use, and more substantially in their patterns of harm minimisation.Furthermore, results showed some evidence for the existence of a party drug user social identity, which was related to party drug use within a clear social context, and to experiencing fewer party drug related problems.The authors conclude that harm minimisation initiatives need to be designed for particular social groups, such as heterosexuals or homosexuals, targeting their particular patterns of party drug use, and<br>suggest that effective harm minimisation strategies should incorporate both the social context in which the behaviour occurs, and the social norms of party drug use by particular social groups.<br>