Name: DERICK DOS SANTOS TINÔCO
Publication date: 05/09/2024
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ZILA VAN DER MEER SANCHEZ DUTENHEFNER | Examinador Externo |
Pages
Summary: The objective of this study was to analyze the influences of sports practices on non-therapeutic drug use among young people, with a focus on the use of alcoholic beverages. In the social imaginary, sports are constantly and automatically linked to the promotion of health, education and the distancing of young people from behaviors considered risky, such as the non-therapeutic use of psychoactive substances. Seeking to conduct analyses that go beyond the superficiality of salvationist discourses on sports, the thesis starts from the understanding that both drug use and sports are complex sociocultural manifestations, and advances the discussion on the relationships between these two phenomena based on theories of human development originating mainly from psychology. Methodologically, the research was developed from an exploratory descriptive perspective with a qualitative approach. The information was collected through semi-structured interviews with 16 young people aged between 16 and 25 years old, who participated in a socio-sports project in the city of Serra/ES during their early youth. In addition to training, the social project offered a series of other educational activities, all carried out in shifts opposite to school hours. The interview script consisted of sociodemographic questions; previous and current experiences with sports; and drug use in life and in the last year. To verify the prevalence of alcohol consumption, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was applied. Four sports teachers from the social project were also interviewed in order to understand, in general terms, how the sports activities that these young people experienced were developed. The interpretation of the interviews was done using Bardin's thematic content analysis. All young people reported having tried some alcoholic beverage, 11 currently continue to drink, of which two presented more worrying levels of consumption. Only one of them reported continuing to use illicit substances. After alcohol, the most experimented substance was cigarettes, followed by marijuana and hashish. The systematic experience of sports for a long period in early youth had a positive impact on the relationship developed by young people with drugs, both acutely and for the rest of their lives. Directly, the concern with competitive performance led young people to refuse to use drugs for fear that they would interfere with their athletic performance, thus postponing the consumption of these substances, especially alcohol. Indirectly, sports activities contributed to the development of discipline, responsibility, organizational skills, and focus, skills considered by the literature to be protective against drug use. Engaging in sports also facilitated the establishment of connections with abstinent peers and with the project's teachers, contributing to the development of resilience. Understanding that the results presented are not dissociated from a context, the thesis we defend is that sports are not an essential or accessory activity, but rather an integral part of the youth's development process, which will have greater possibilities of positively influencing habits related to drug use if developed together with other educational activities and incorporated into a prevention system. The information gathered allowed us to identify three elements of sport that contribute to the development and protection against drug use: the power of sport to attract and motivate young people, the ability of sport to concentrate the focus of young people and ensure that the first use of drugs is postponed, and the sociability provided by them. Since these results come from the analysis of a single group, they do not conclude the discussion on the potential for integrating sport into the educational process of young people.
Keywords: drugs; prevention; sports; leisure.
