Adolescent Substance Abuse: A Literature Review

Meanwhile, ADHD can be linked to future risk with substance abuse. According to Caywood, Riggs, and Novins (2015), “Substance abuse problems represent a significant public mental health issue for adolescents in the United States” and most likely it is mental issues during childhood that causes future substance use disorders. However, substance use does not make the mental issues better but worse as “adolescent substance misuse increases the risk of developing co-occurring mental problems” which makes treatment more complex in the end. The authors reported the findings from the National Comorbidity Replication – Adolescent Supplement, which involved adolescents from the age of 13 to 18, stating that near 80 percent of adolescents had “consumed

alcohol by age 18” and near 25 percent had “used drugs by 18” as well. The supplement also found that more than half the youth “with an alcohol use disorder had a comorbid drug use disorder” and near 45 percent of adolescents who had a “drug use disorder had an alcohol use disorder” (pg. 42). The authors reported that those with substance use disorders also had mental issues. It was found that “only 2 classes of disorders were clearly more common among adolescents with substance use problems” such as behavior and depressive disorders, including other minor disorders involving eating, hyperactivity and inattentiveness, and trauma (pg. 42). This shows how diagnosing ADHD would be complicated because of comorbidity as ADHD can be intermixed with other mental issues.