Vol. 13(3), pp. 114 --119 April, 2025. 

ISSN: 2360-7858

https://doi.org/10.14662/ijalis2025210

 

Full Length Research

 

Abstract

This study explored the knowledge systems shaping Goskolo abuse in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria, through the lens of Chatman’s Theory of Normative Behavior. A qualitative methodology was employed, involving in-depth interviews with 23 active Goskolo users and observational fieldwork in key usage hotspots. Thematic analysis revealed three critical knowledge dimensions: (1) prior knowledge of drug formulations and minimized health risks, (2) experiential knowledge of economic strain, bodily effects, and self-medication benefits, and (3) procedural knowledge of peer-led initiation and usage rituals. These systems collectively create a closed epistemic environment where lived experience and social transmission override formal health information, perpetuating information poverty. The findings demonstrate how cognitive, embodied, and behavioral knowledge interact to maintain normative boundaries, with experiential knowledge serving as the most resistant to change. Recommendations emphasize culturally embedded interventions, including: peer-led harm reduction programs that leverage existing "social types," experiential learning opportunities to reshape bodily associations with drug use, and community co-designed messaging that works within rather than against local pharmacologic understandings. The study advances Chatman’s framework by revealing how knowledge systems not just social ties sustain small worlds, offering a predictive model for assessing community permeability to external information. Policymakers and health workers must address all three knowledge domains to effectively disrupt substance-use norms in closed communities.

 

Keywords: Goskolo abuse, normative behavior, experiential knowledge, small worlds, epistemic norms .

 

	Cite This Article As: Ndor, J.J. (2025). Understanding The Small World of Goskolo Abusers in Jos, Plateau State: A Chatman’s Theory of Normative Behavior Theory Perspective. Inter. J. Acad. Lib. Info. Sci. 13(3): 114-119