According to the authors and many studies, psychosocial distress and the feeling of meaninglessness in life are very common today, and young people are a particularly vulnerable group. In doing so, I try to show how and in what ways psychosocial distress and the feeling of existential vacuum are associated with drug use, which is very common among young people today, in covert ways even encouraged. I have taken into account the population of young people from correctional institutions, which is particularly vulnerable, as it has fewer protective factors for psychosocial health and more chaotic and destructive drug use. In the theoretical part, I present the basic characteristics of globalization and individualization as well as their associated processes, which in different ways affect the psychosocial state of families and consequently their children. This is followed by a demonstration of the importance of social characteristics that affect the increased sense of meaninglessness in people in general. In the central part of the theoretical starting points, I try to show the psychosocial distress of young people from correctional institutions through the concept of psychological resilience of the individual and to highlight the importance of its protective factors and risk factors, which are also associated with drug use. At the same time, I shed even more light on the importance of a sense of meaning as an individual protective factor of psychological resilience and drug use. Through eight biographical narratives of young people housed in correctional institutions, the empirical part seeks to show the dynamism and complexity of the connection between existential vacuum, psychosocial distress and drug use within individual life contexts. Autobiographical narratives cover the following topics: the turning points of young people associated with drug use, the psychosocial distress of these young people, ways of coping and available support of the social environment in the face of psychosocial distress, and possible experiences of existential vacuum and its meaning. The findings point to a large dispersion of young people’s narratives. Roughly speaking, the turning points associated with drug use are complex and have, in addition many associated factors that have influenced certain unravellings of young people's lifestyles. Drug use is predominantly the result of certain situational factors, which are most often associated with a change in one’s companionship. The turning points are often accompanied by some hardships of young people. The most often are difficulties in connection within the family field and living in correctional institution, and in the field of relationships. Some are also more specific. However, young people use drugs due to their situational factors, while also recognizing the beneficial effects on their physical or mental condition. A small number of interlocutors are present, who report that drugs were their only way of coping in some psychosocial distress. The interlocutors also mention the following ways of coping with hardships: retreat, self-distraction, use of emotional support, drawing, listening to music, coping on a rational level, etc. Young people, when faced with hardships, mostly solve their own problems. Regarding support, they mostly report access to informal forms of support in times of distress. Most tend to turn to their family, friends and partners for support. The majority of young people are mainly supported by the institution's social network. I find that the existential vacuum is not present in most young people. Young people are otherwise facing transitional periods of meaninglessness in life, which were mostly related to psychosocial distress. In principle, however, almost all young people recognize their current meaning of existence.
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