Teen Drug Abuse

Adolescents abuse illegal drugs for several reasons. If a teen is abusing drugs, your family is no different from many other families today. The question some may ask themselves is, “Why does a child do drugs?” This research paper will explain some of the reasons adolescents abuse drugs. Parents cannot blame themselves for all of a teen’s actions. Two major reasons for adolescents abusing illegal drugs are peer pressure and depression. These concepts will be expanded upon in detail in this paper.

Peer pressure is one of the major reasons that teens abuse illegal drugs. Peer pressure is when another person in this age group persuades someone else to do something they don’t want to do. (Williams, Rob) This happens often among friends. In Alcohol, Stepney discuses children mimicking or idealizing friends, family, or T.V. Most people use peer pressure every day. A typical phrase is when someone says, “It will be fun, trust me.” This could be harmless pressure to try something like a new movie, or a new brand of cookies. It could also be pressure to abuse illegal drugs. Peer pressure is often used in harmful ways. (Doe, John) Teens at a party want to fit in. Many find it is very hard to say no when their peers are doing drugs. It may seem easy to say no, but when a teen feels pressured and wants to fit in, most teens try the drugs in the end. Another form of peer pressure is reverse psychology. This is making it look good for you although it’s bad. If someone changes sides all of a sudden, a teen may change to the other side as well thinking it was their own idea. Greed, according to an electronic source, is another reason for drug abuse among teens, as they get others hooked and sell to them to pay for their own habit. (Guillermo D. Jalil) Peer pressure is probably the main reason most teens abuse illegal drugs.

During puberty, many teens suffer with depression. Depression is when a teen is not happy with themselves for real or imagined reasons. They may be suffering from low self-esteem or torment by others, leading to not being happy with their appearance or other physical features. Many teens go through periods of moodiness, inner turmoil, and rebellion (Gilbert, Sara). Depression may also occur in a teen due to family problems. A teen may think a divorce is coming due to parental behavior but the parents may not be thinking that.