If your inner containment is low, meaning that you do not have people that put ideas into your head about what is right and wrong, then you become much more prone to drug abuse. Outer containment is like the your bonds to teachers, friends, family, and the law. If you constantly have many people around you telling you that drugs are bad, you will be less likely to get involved with drugs simply because you do not want to let these people down. In contrast, if you lack having many people around you like your parents if they were never around, then you would not have anyone telling you not to do drugs, which would mean that you will be more likely to do them. If a person has a low inner and outer containment, they most likely do not have a very high self-esteem, and could feel as if they are lost in society. They look for someone to lead them, or look for a way out. When a person does not know what to do, they are more prone to get involved with deviance, such as drug abuse .
Another example of Differential Association would be in dealing with friends. If some of the teenager's friends are involved with drugs, then the teen is more likely to get involved with them because of the peer pressure resulting from them. They also feel a need to fit in with them and are more likely to do what it takes to gain that acceptance. .
Another theory is that of Differential Reinforcement. Reinforcement is what a teenager would gain from his peers. If a teen started doing drugs like the rest of his friends, they could start praising him for doing it. As a result, the teen will want to continue doing it to continue getting praised. Yet another theory that can cause deviance or drug abuse among teens is known as labeling theory. This is when a teenager gets labeled as being a drug abuser, and then they continue to use drugs because everyone around them treats them that the applied label states that they are.