Abstract

RIBEIRO, Tatiana Weiss; PERGHER, Nicolau Kuckartz  and  TOROSSIAN, Sandra Djambolakdjian. Drugs and adolescence: analysis of the ideology presented in the mass media. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 1998, vol.11, n.3, pp. 421-430. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79721998000300003.

Nowadays, drug use and abuse is an usual topic of debate. In the media, for example, there are several reports about this theme. We analyzed, based on the Theory of Discourse Analysis, four texts about drugs found in magazines directed to adolescents. We tried to find which ideologies are implied by those texts and which effects they can cause on the reader, considering the media’s power of persuasion. The results showed that teenagers did not have enough information about drugs and were unable to make critical judgements about using them. The texts attempt to show scaring consequences of drug use through an imperative tone. A moralist character that defines the ideology of prevention of drug use was also identified. The knowledge of what kind of information is being made available to adolescents may help professionals to deal better with drug issues.

Keywords : adolescence; drugs; media; Discourse Analsys.