Drug Abuse and Career Instability in Karachi, Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Legal, Social, and Psychological Correlates
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70670/sra.v4i2.2190Keywords:
Drug Abuse, Career Instability, Psychological Well-Being, Cross-Sectional CorrelatesAbstract
Drug abuse remains a critical public health and social issue in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, where urban stressors and drug availability are associated with career instability among youth and working adults. This quantitative cross-sectional study examined correlational associations between drug abuse and career instability, focusing on the statistical decomposition of associations involving legal, social, and psychological consequences. Data were collected from 120 respondents in Karachi (60 self-reported drug users, 60 non-users). Path decomposition using bootstrapping (5,000 resamples) produced indirect path coefficients consistent with partial statistical association for legal consequences (indirect coefficient = 0.20, 95% CI [0.09, 0.33]), social consequences (0.13, 95% CI [0.04, 0.24]), and psychological consequences (0.21, 95% CI [0.11, 0.34]). The direct coefficient remained significant (B = 0.42, 95% CI [0.26, 0.58]) in models containing each correlate. A chi-square test showed significant association between drug use status and job loss, χ²(1) = 23.18, p < .001, Cramer's V = 0.44. These findings describe associations only; the cross-sectional design cannot distinguish among competing causal directions, including reverse causation, unmeasured confounding, or common method variance. The term "path coefficient" is used throughout to avoid causal claims. Post-hoc power analysis indicated approximately 50 percent power to detect modest interaction effects; consequently, null moderation findings for age and gender are uninformative and not interpreted. Descriptive findings suggest that workplace drug awareness programs, career-focused rehabilitation, and integrated mental health support represent candidate hypotheses for future experimental testing. This study provides hypothesis-generating descriptive evidence to guide future longitudinal research in Pakistan, but causal claims require longitudinal or experimental designs.
References
Ahmed, T. N., & Shah, N. A. (2024). Exploring Socio-economic Challenges: an in-depth study of relapsed drug addicts in Karachi. Bahria University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 7(2), 1–24. https://bujhss.bahria.edu.pk/index.php/bujhss/article/view/20
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage Publications.
Andersen, D., & Kessing, M. L. (2018). Stigma, problem drug use, and welfare state encounters: changing contours of stigmatization in the era of social investment. Addiction Research & Theory, 27(4), 277–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2018.1508568
Azad, A. H., Gilani, I., Ali, I., Ghani, U., Malik, L. F., Shabbir, A., Abrar, S., & Wazir, P. (2024). Behind the burden: A qualitative study on caregiving for substance use disorder in Pakistan. Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, 36(S4). https://doi.org/10.55519/JAMC-S4-14248
Bandara, S. N., Huskamp, H. A., Riedel, L. E., McGinty, E. E., Webster, D. W., Toone, R. E., & Barry, C. L. (2020). What are the factors that influence public support for removing barriers to recovery capital for those with felony drug convictions? Recovery Research Institute. https://www.recoveryanswers.org/research-post/social-determinants-health-drug-convictions/
Duckworth, J. C., Graupensperger, S., Schultz, N. R., Gilson, M. S., Fairlie, A. M., Patrick, M. E., & Lee, C. M. (2023). Alcohol and marijuana use predicting next-day absenteeism and engagement at school and work: A daily study of young adults. Addictive Behaviors, 142, 107670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107670
Fritz, M. S., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2007). Required sample size to detect the mediated effect. Psychological Science, 18(3), 233–239.
Gibson, M., Hemmati, Z., Conti, A., Dritschel, B., & Baldacchino, A. (2026). The association between chronic alcohol, cannabis, and opioids use and autobiographical memory impairments: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 17, 1715085. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1715085
Gul, M., Kanwal, A., & Aqeel, M. (2025). Enhancing social inclusion through a culturally adapted ACT manual for substance use stigma and shame. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 30(2), 266–281. https://doi.org/10.1108/mhsi-05-2025-0147
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Hunter, B. A., & Jason, L. A. (2021). Correlates of employment among men in substance use recovery: The influence of discrimination and social support. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 50(2), 163–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2021.1940756
Javed, F., & Iqbal, M. N. (2026). Determinants of barriers to help-seeking in women with substance use disorder in Pakistan. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2026.2617233
Kang, M. A., Saeed, A., & Shaheen, F. A. (2024). Environmental factors contributing to the growing trend of drug use among college students in Karachi. Journal of Substance Use, 30(4), 548–553. https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2024.2365158
Laudet, A. B., & White, W. L. (2010). What are your priorities right now? Identifying service needs across recovery stages to inform service development. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 38(1), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2009.06.003
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 363-385. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.363
MacKinnon, D. P. (2008). Introduction to statistical mediation analysis. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Major, B., & O’Brien, L. T. (2004). The social psychology of stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56(1), 393–421. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070137
Maxwell, S. E., & Cole, D. A. (2007). Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation. Psychological Methods, 12(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989x.12.1.23
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/brm.40.3.879
Saha, S., Das, P., Das, T., Das, P., Roy, R., & Roy, T. B. (2025). Midlife substances use risk factors and cognitive disorder in late life: A systematic review using meta-analysis. Health Sciences Review, 17, 100243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hsr.2025.100243
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2022). World drug report 2022. United Nations publication.
