Ecstasy Use: A New Approach to Friendliness

Running Head: A New Approach to Friendliness

Ecstasy Use: A New Approach to Friendliness

Statement of Problem

The beliefs surrounding ecstasy users are extremely sensitive to the population of the United States; the young culture in the United States is more prone to ecstasy use. Analyzing any supportive data that could potentially affect ecstasy usage is an important reason to study such a topic because of the value people place on life. If ecstasy use is related to friendliness, then it is worth researching to see if e-use is affecting the friendliness statistics across the United States within the demographics of young adults between the ages of 18-30 years old.

"Club drugs" can refer to a wide range of substances that are commonly used by young adults: they use these drugs are primarily at raves, clubs, or at house parties. The coined term club drug does not typically mean ecstasy, it could be drugs that have been abused for years such as marijuana, cocaine, LSD, etc. This designer drug is also known as MDMA (usdoj.gov, 2002). It is classified as both a hallucinogen and stimulant. Ecstasy's chemical structure is similar to methamphetamine. The users of this drug never really know the potency of what is in the pill. Physical symptoms include, blurred vision, vomiting, increased heart rate and the list goes on. Even worse is the side effects after the fact, these include: depression, increased speech rate, paranoia, anxiety, and poor concentration (usdoj.gov, 2002).

At the other end of the spectrum, we have friendliness. According to dictionary.com (2005), friendliness is defined as a feeling of liking for another person, a feeling of enjoyment in their company. The importance of friendliness is that perceived friendliness is subjective to the receiver. Regardless, if I am high on ecstasy my levels of friendliness could be exceptional or vice versa. Friendliness, in this context, has to do with liking people, being open, being social, outgoingness, being easy going, and being kind. There are subclasses friendliness, however, they are not measured in this study. The importance of this problem is that it is affecting the young adults by killing their brain cells, but the harsh reality is that it is self-induced. If this study can show a direct relationship to friendliness, then this might help case managers, counselors, and psychologists help expand their knowledge within the realm of their profession and not to mention the young adults themselves. This study mainly focused on young adults between the ages of 18-30. This study is not about young adults exclusively: it is testing young adults because they are most prevalent within demographics.

Overview of Topic

In this study, I will be analyzing the number of days of e-use among young adults 18-30 years of age in direct correlation to levels of friendliness. The best test chose for this study is the correlations test. The independent variable is number of days of e-use among young adults and the dependent variable is levels of friendliness. The number of days will be measured on a quantitative basis. Friendliness, to these e-users will be defined as a feeling of liking for another person, a feeling of enjoyment in their company (dictionary.com). Friendliness is significantly more qualitative than the measurement for number of days of e-use. In order to rationalize my hypothesis, lets consider why young adults choose to do ecstasy. Typically, young adults choose to take drugs due to peer pressure, everybody else is doing it, why shouldn't I? Young adults also choose to take ecstasy, simply, because they can. These days there are so many issues as to why young adults use drugs, it is mind blowing. However, in accordance with social exchange theory, this theory would say, the exchange of social and material resources is a fundamental form of human interaction (Washington.edu, 1996). In other words, if being friendly can help that person get drugs easily then why not be overly friendly? It will work their advantage if these e-users are nice and outgoing it will benefit users in the sense of making some type of social or material exchange with another person. With this in mind, I propose that there is a direct correlation between the numbers of days of e-use among young adults (18-30 years of age) in direct correlation to levels of friendliness.

Methods

Instrument

To test this hypothesis, different forms of research will be employed. Both quantitative and qualitative methods must be used to assure accurate reliability. To test number of days e-users ingest their pill, a simple survey will be administered. The test contains twenty questions regarding usage and frequency buy using a test that uses yes or no answers I can calculate the number or yes' and the number of no's easily (Appendix-A). This is the quantitative aspect to the study,