Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

THE SSS IN THE FIVE CITIES IN THE SURVEYTAS ES DIS BS GLOBALCoimbra 5,8037 5,4088 5,4059 4,9478 21,3640(2,3993) (2,0633) (2,0288) (1,8575) (6,1728)Modena 5,4309 5,4944 5,7197 3,9471 20,7405(2,4680) (1,7256) (1,7388) (1,8470) (5,2691)Nice 5,4452 5,8885 5,3018 4,7474 21,4658(2,3050) (1,6904) (2,0795) (1,5685) (4,8908)Palma 5,4209 6,4764 6,0161 3,4441 21,3115(2,1887) (1,6893) (2,0040) (1,7943) (4,8434)Utrecht 6,3851 6,6513 5,7047 4,0316 22,7029(2,1743) (1,6751) (2,0686) (1,8115) (5,2120)K-W (p) 44,39 102,65 22,22 124,26 22,70(0,0001) (0.0001) (0,0002) (0,0001) (0,0001)The data in the Table correspond to the mean and, inside brackets, to the standard deviation.K-W (Kruskal Wallis test statistic and level of significance).THRILL AND ADVENTURE SEEKING (TAS)On this SSS subscale, Utrecht scores the highest and it is significantly different fromthe mean of the other cities. Among the other cities, there are no significant differencesbetween means. This high score by the Dutch sample may be a result of the fact that onthis subscale, as we will see later, the Dutch non-consumer group has a higher meanscore than the mean overall score for this group. Which means to say that the Dutchnon-consumers of ecstasy are greater thrill and adventure seekers than the nonconsumersin the other countries.EXPERIENCE SEEKING (ES)In this second subscale, we see two groups of cities which show significantlydifferent scores. One of these groups comprises Nice, Coimbra and Modena, and theother Palma and Utrecht. It is the latter two cities, Palma and Utrecht which havesignificantly higher means than the first group..According to the results of the factorial analysis, we see that these differences arisefrom the fact that on this subscale, Spain and Holland score above the overall mean forthe non-consumer and occasional consumer groups, and Spain also scores above theoverall mean for regular consumers.Therefore, the non-consumers and the occasional or experimental consumers inUtrecht and Palma de Mallorca are greater experience seekers, which means that theyhave a greater necessity than the other two cities for leading a not very conventional life,either through travelling, music styles or drug use.80