Factors Of Teen Substance Abuse

“Alcohol is the substance abused most frequently by adolescents, followed by marijuana and tobacco. In the past month, 35 percent of high school seniors reported drinking some alcohol, 21 percent reported using marijuana, and 11 percent reported smoking cigarettes” (hhs.gov, p.1). There are many different factors that often play a part in why a teen might turn to substance use or abuse; such as individual factors, family factors, and peer factors. Teenagers experiment and use substances for many reasons; coping, experimentation, peer pressure, personality traits or socioeconomic status.

Individual factors Poor coping skills and personality traits are factors that often play a part in why a teen might turn to substance use or abuse. “Psychological

Teenagers from a low socioeconomic status backgrounds often abuse substances. Teenagers from low income backgrounds may not know other coping methods . “In economically depressed communities, young people often use drugs in response to the bleakness of economic and social conditions, as we see in the Andrews and Baker children (Chapters 1 and 2). Traumatic events, poor neighborhoods, adverse school conditions, and negative peer influences also contribute to increased use of substances (Nakkula et al., 2010) and to aggression (Mason & Mennis, 2010). Consistent with this, drug use is typically heavier among lower socioeconomic groups” (McWhirter, 2013 p.

“Peer groups strongly influence a young person’s decision to use drugs, and they predict the age of initial drug use, especially alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco (Lewis et al., 2010). Thus interventions that focus on the peer group may be the most effective for preventing and treating substance use and associated problems. Unfortunately, peer group and peer pressure have been used so loosely that their meanings are ambiguous” (McWhirter, 2013 p. 179). Social reinforcements is when a teenager is seeking attention or status advancement from the teenager’s peers. Peer factors can advance drug usage in