## 3 Results
### Analyses of the Themes and Quotes
#### 3.3.7. Autonomy--Willingness to Quit  
Although severe discipline and strong social control (i.e., external regulation in extrinsic motivation) are usually treated as important in restraining people from delinquency, the participants felt pressure (e.g., HR7) and were hostile towards severe discipline (\(N=4\)). They expressed that \"It was just like hanging myself and I couldn't breathe\" (LSF1) and they even developed rebellious thoughts against the family (e.g., NR2: \"The harsher and tougher the family treated me, the more rebellious I was. I didn't want to go home\"). Additionally, there were participants who were highly disciplined and restrained by their spouse, thus they lost their freedom and the social life that they used to have (e.g., NS1: \"I used to have a lot of friends. After I knew him (boyfriend), there were so many restrictions, I couldn't do this and that. Friends then isolated me. I couldn't drink... even a little... neither could I wear make-up... \"). Such pressure only drove participants to take drugs as a way of coping, implying that external regulation is not effective for achieving drug abstinence. In contrast, many participants quit drugs based on their autonomous decisions (\(N=12\)). For instance, some wished to quit drugs because they experienced their negative effects. They felt that drug taking ruined their relationship with family and friends (e.g., NS6, NR5), as well as brought about a negative influence on their physical and psychological well-being. NS8 said, \"At that time I was sluggish and looked ugly. I didn't dare to eat. I looked so ugly. As you know, (taking drugs) causes people to look pale and skinny, and suffer from bad moods.\" Drugs imposed harm to physical and psychological health, making the participants feel \"tired of it\" (HS5) and wanting to get rid of the influence of drugs. All these reflect that participants quit drugs based on their intrinsic motivation; understanding the value of quitting drugs highly encourages them to do so [28]. Some participants quit drugs willingly because of their children (\(N=8\)). For instance, NS4 mentioned that \"since I had my baby, I haven't taken drugs from then on.\"; NM5: \"Since I was pregnant, I haven't wanted to take drugs again. I'm afraid that it will affect the children, so I was strongly determined to quit drugs.\" There was even one participant who, because of this reason, had given up drugs as long as six years ago (NS2). This shows that motherhood enhances participants' willingness to quit drugs because they want their children to be able to grow up in a healthy family. Many participants believed that if they have a strong will to quit drugs, they would be able to do it successfully (\(N=46\)). Having the strong will was important for the participants; as observed by NF2, \"actually quitting drugs depends on yourself... because no matter how long you've locked someone up for, if s/he still wants to take drugs, s/he will do that eventually. The own self is the biggest enemy.\" This was supported by LKS2, \"if you really have the will to count on yourself to stay away from drugs, actually you can do so. But if you say yes but mean no, this is meaningless.\" This shows that one's self-efficacy, persistence, and perseverance (i.e., competence) [25] are the key for them to achieve drug abstinence. To summarize, participants are motivated to quit drugs due to: (1) relationships with significant others in the existing social circle, which offer strong care and support for them as well as serve as adaptive, protective social bonds that encourage drug desistence; (2) willingly developing new social circles and new ways of life, which replace the old ones; and (3) their strong autonomous will to quit drugs because they recognize the advantages of staying away from drugs.