Risk Taking, Alcohol and Drug Use

“Risk Taking, Alcohol and Drug Use”

As if adolescence isn't already a difficult time in many peoples life, the movement into adulthood is also a difficult and confusing time. The onset of stress amongst people can sometimes drive them into experimenting with ways that help reduce the stress; drug use, high alcohol consumption and risk taking being a prime example. In Janet Belsky’s “Experiencing the Lifespan,” after doing some research, she ended up finding out that many young people in High School are indeed risk takers. The thrill of getting away with doing something bad and illegal and not getting caught with your friends, makes some teens feel invincible. Many believe that if they didn’t get caught the “last couple times” doing whatever they did, then why would they get caught doing it “this time?” It’s a repetitive process that unfortunately keeps on going until they actually get busted, and even after they do get busted, sometimes it still doesn't stop them.

Belsky’s research, along with research done by others that she found, showed some surprising statistics. Some of the research that she found was that most of the adolescent risk taking wasn't of “serious” drug use, it was the slight usage of alcohol and marijuana. Underage drinking is never a good thing and a survey in 2010 found that only a small amount of High School teens had admitted to binge drinking. The first problem arises here, and it’s something that many people believe and question. In terms of alcohol consumption, if you’re already binge drinking in High School, isn’t it more likely that it’s only going to worsen as you head off to college? Marijuana is an illegal drug in many states, but compared to many of the other drugs out there, it hardly compares to ...

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...y to increase their alcohol consumption during the first year of college, and those who drink before beginning college are more likely to continue drinking throughout college and into their adult lives” (Grekin & Sher, 2006; Hartzler & Fromme, 2003). The conclusions that were reached through this experiment by the authors help add to our current level of understanding about this specific topic. High risk drinking and drug use is an extremely dangerous thing that usually leads to addiction, over-consumption and in some cases the most unfortunate event, death.

Works Cited

Belsky, J. (2013). Experiencing The Lifespan, third edition. New York: Worth ;.

Chiauzzi, E., DasMahapatra, P., & Black, R. A. (2013). Risk Behaviors and Drug Use: A Latent Class Analysis of Heavy Episodic Drinking in First-Year Colleges Students.. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(4), 974-985.