Jeremiah Lowney

What Were Your Parents Doing Back Then? is a comprehensive, in-depth study of teen drug and alcohol abuse that begins in the "hip" days of the 1970's, travels through the economic boom of the 1990's, and continues on until the present time. Lowney combines qualitative, descriptive research with statistical quantitative data over a 31-year period to present a human understanding of young people's drug use.

In 1970, sociologist Jeremiah Lowney began researching a group of surfers called the "Wall Gang" in a small community of drug and alcohol users on Golden Beach in San Diego, California. Stoned, Drunk, or Sober? is the culmination of Lowney's thirty-eight years of intensive non-participant observation of seventy-two surfers. This book offers a rare look at various qualitative techniques employed to understand alcohol and drug use. Lowney utilizes basic quantitative statistical data to complement and verify the qualitative findings, thereby providing a deeper understanding than if only one or the other had been used. Because it spans so many years, Lowney's longitudinal research offers readers an opportunity to fully grasp the various factors that contribute to substance abuse, the various paths used to overcome the severe consequences of addiction, and the histories of those who did not use drugs, those who did, and those who are now "free and sober."