Preventing Drug Use Among Adolescents
In the world people face many challenges in many instances the youth of today are “raising” themselves. Many youths are faced with making adults decisions and they face a higher risk of making poorer choices which could lead to drug abuse, violence, and HIV/AIDs. This paper is design to look at what could help in the prevention of drug abuse among adolescents. There are many programs that are designed for detox and treatment for addiction however there is a need to break the cycle of learned behaviors and promote better coping skills before the onset of addiction.
The Social Need for Drug Prevention
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) a guide “Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents” introduced the concept of “research-based prevention” to address drug abuse among adolescents in communities across the country. Over a period of time drug use among adolescents has been increasing in acceptance and less a risk or danger of health consequences. The gateway drugs tobacco and marijuana are most common. Lack of parental supervision, poor parent-child relationships, and permissive parenting styles also influence initiation, progression and maintenance of substance use. Research has shown, for example that greater involvement in substance use was associated with less after-school supervision and high levels of parent-child conflict. In addition, parents who were less authoritative and more permissive had adolescents who were more deviant. Lack of supervision and high levels of conflict may contribute to the initiation and escalation of substance use to the extent that they provide increased opportunities for adolescents to interact with deviant peers who model more exten...
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...tion to help children live a full fruitful life with limitless possibilities and to help break cycles that have been passed on from generation to generation. This group process can help facilitate better peer relationships, self-efficacy and assertiveness, drug resistance skills, social problem-solving skills, and promote family bonding between parents and children.
References
D'Amico, E., Osilla, K., & Hunter, S. (2010). Developing a Group Motivational Interviewing Intervention for Adolescents At-Risk for Developing an Alcohol or Drug use Disorder. National Institue of Health, 28(4), 417-436.
Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents A Research-Based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders: In Brief. (2nd ed.). (2003). Bethesda, Md.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Drug abuse in teens has risen tremendously in America. Although, there are many causes and effects of using drugs, there are many ways to prevent teens from doing them. Even though some teens become addicted to recreational drugs, there are many ways to treat addiction and ultimately live a healthy and stable life.
Drugs and alcohol are a big problem everywhere, but school administrators and teachers want to make sure that students are able to reach their full potential and drug use would greatly hinder that. However, according to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey 39.9% of students have tried marijuana and 70.8% of students have drank alcohol (YRBSS 2011 National Overview). If schools were to expel every student because of drug or alcohol use, there would hardly be any students left. A booklet published by the Drug Policy Alliance has research that shows that zero tolerance policies do not deter drug and alcohol use. Drug and alcohol use continues to rise in schools, and many schools do not do anything to help combat it except for harsh disciplinary procedures. Most elementary schools have drug education programs, but the same type of education does not work well with teenagers. The Drug Policy Alliance advocates for a three step process to help students instead of p...
Relevance to the topic: This world-wide-web article is relevant as it gives an insight to the problem of substance abuse which includes the consumption of illegal drugs and/or the misuse of prescription medications or household substances. It is pertinent to the ongoing study because it relates to the strategies and factors mentioned here that can help adolescents stay drug-free. Those tactics are having resilient affirmative relations with the close relatives, other family members, school, and religion; as well as having parents present in the house at certain crucial times of the day and decreased access to illegal substances.
Robertson, E. B., David, S. L., Rao, S. A., & National Institute on Drug Abuse (2003). Preventing drug use among children and adolescents: A research based guide for parents, educators, and community leaders (2nd ed.). Bethesda, Md: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Passik, Rzetelny, and Kirsh note that the risk of drug addiction/dependence among the young people may come as a result of peer pressure or the desire to try out new things in their young lives (2016). Many teenagers experiment with drugs and later on urge their friends to share the experience with them. Nonetheless, this can be prevented by ensuring that the young people are taught about how drug addiction develops and its consequences on their physical, mental, behavioral health, and then people around them (Lewis, Dana, and Blevins, 2014). This way, as children grow up, they will understand the risk factors of using drugs and this will prevent them from indulging in substance abuse.
Parent(s) should be able to provide a stable and loving environment for their children to grow up in, unfortunately, for drug addicted parents this feat seems impossible. Addicts must satisfy their own needs over anything else (Street, Whitlingum, Gibson, Cairns, and Ellis 2011). The high cost of drugs and their bizarre side effects cause rocky, unpredictable daily lives for the children of these addicts. Estimates show “…6 million children live with a parent who abuses alcohol or other drugs” (Taylor 2011). Children that reside with substance abusing parents enter into a perpetual cycle of physical abuse, neglect and emotional trauma. Numerous children raise themselves and/or their siblings because their parent(s) are either too drugged up to tend to their needs or are not home at ...
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
The conversation concerning development continues with addiction in adolescence. Childhood is characterized as an individual between 4 to 11 years of age. The developmental period that is defined in this essay as adolescence is between the ages of 12 to 18. This age bracket is associated with major developmental milestones including cognitive and physical advances. ((Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. 2015) Physical changes that this age group experiences include body shape, mood swings, and social issues. This is also a period of their development where social identity is forming as the child begins to break away from the parental control and explore their world and construct their own belief system. Often children begin to change social
Poor peer relationship can be seen as both cause and consequence of teen substance abuse. To develop in a negative and unhealthy environment can lead a person to make poor decisions, and to make poor decisions can lead a person to build a relationship with other individuals who share their same detrimental practices and who do not provide a positive peer support. To make a poor decision can lead the youth to get involve in deviant behavior due to being under the influence affect the person 's judgment and increases the chances of getting involved in delinquent
...olescences to abuse drugs depending on the influencing stimuli. We must educate the adolescences on respectable behavior and consequences to drug seeking behaviors and addiction.
After interviewing my teenage cousin whom has been in several altercations at home and school, enlightened me on the ways that teenagers in her age group gets involved in drug use. Kids start as young as ten years of age using, selling, and experimenting with drugs. My teenage cousin was expelled from public schools when she started experimenting with drugs. She was surrounded by many challenges when she enrolled in the alternative behavioral school. Many students, whom attend the alternative behavioral school use drugs, sell drugs, are on probation, have been arrested, engage in sexual activity and drink alcohol. Being surrounded by several of these activities that take place in the school, she has been approached by many, and has taken an interest in engaging in these bad activities. She lies to her parents about where she is going and where she has been. She has sold her electronics for drugs and alcohol, snuck out of her house to party with friends, and have runaway to stay with her friend to take part in sexual intercourse. Peer influences, as we have seen, a...
Teenagers are often looked down upon because of the choices they make during that time of their life, but mostly it is because of people looking down upon them, that they make those choices. During Teenager years being exposed to sex, drugs, and alcohol is the norm and because of that substance abuse is often a problem. Seeing a strong correlation between teenager and substance abuse is very common and this paper shows: why teenagers attract to substance abuse, the effects on the teenager life because of the substance abuse and what could be done to prevent the substance abuse.
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). (2001, February). National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VI: Teens. Retrieved from CASA Ending Addiction Changes Everything: http://www.casacolumbia.org/addiction-research/reports/national-survey-american-attitudes-substance-abuse-teens-2001
There are a myriad of cultural and societal risk factors that contribute adolescent alcohol and drug use. A risk factor is defined as “any attribute, characteristic or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury”. These risk factors can be identified through family history of substance use disorder, sense of inferiority, pleasure seeking, low self-esteem, unemployment, poor social support, desire to experiment and poor social support (Thomas, N. L., Naregal, P. M., Mohite, V. R., Tata, S. H., Karale, R. B., & Kakade, S. V. (2015).) Risk of drug abuse increases greatly during times of transition, such as changing schools, moving, or divorce. Additional peer risk factors include gang involvement or the reinforcement of negative norms and expectations within peer group, the lack of academic...
The first step when beginning to implement drug education in a classroom or school is for the individual that is considering the topic to deem why the implementation is important. There are three main reasons teachers have found the implementation to be important. The first reason is that students are more likely to come in contact with drugs by hearing about them, or using them. By having a program implemented into a classroom or school, it can assist individuals to gain knowledge about the topic. The purpose of this is to help individuals make healthy, responsible decisions about drugs now and in the future that will reflect the individual’s identity and morals. The second reason is to help promote a healthy lifestyle for students. Teachers believe that by engaging students in drug education programs, it can help to benefit well-being of the students so that healthy lifestyles are reached to the fullest potentials. Lastly, teachers have found it to be important because teachers can act as a partner with parents, guardians, and other members of the community, in order to ensure that students are being provided with accurate and developmentally appropriate drug education. The school can provide knowledge to students in an area that is sometimes difficult for parents, guardians, and the community to talk about.