Teenage Substance Addiction Research

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Most people who struggle with substance addiction begin experimenting with drugs in their teens. The four year period from entering high school as a child and graduating as a young adult can mean several changes for teenagers incusing experimentation of substances that can lead to long term effects, addiction as an adult, and in some cases death. According to the American Addiction Center, “...in 2014, approximately 5 percent of the American adolescent population suffered from a substance use disorder; this equates to 1,3 million teens or 1 in every 12.” The reasons that teenagers begin to use drugs and drink alcohol vary. Some of the leading causes of substance abuse among teens include: access, peer pressure and emotional disorders.
Teenagers …show more content…

Peer pressure by definition is influence from members of one's peer group. This can happen in several different settings and can even happen to adults. But for teenagers, peer pressure is most importantly linked to substance abuse. Teens are very easily controlled and manipulated. When someone like the popular group of kids or the upperclassmen are doing bad things like smoking and drinking, it is very likely that some of the other kids will see that as a gateway into popularity or a sort of fame.They believe that if they do those same things, that they too will be popular. In some cases, teens don't necessarily want to experiment with substances, but their “friends” will sort of nudge or and bully them into doing it. Peer pressure is extremely dangerous, for the fact that when an adolescent is pressured into trying a substance, it is possible that they can become addicted, and the vicious cycle of peer pressure will continue. Some students get caught in the wrong crowd and start to hang out with kids who do bad things. According to the article, “Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse: How to Spot It, Stop It, and Get Help For Your Family”, the text states, “When adolescents start hanging around people their parents don't approve of or start doing things that result in legal trouble, it is easy to attribute …show more content…

Very often, teenagers either use drugs and alcohol as a sort of escape for these disorders, or the use of drugs and alcohol can lead to these disorders to occur. According to The Nation Institute On Drug Abuse, “research suggests that adolescents with substance use disorders also have high rates of co-occurring mental illness; over 60 percent of adolescents in community-based substance use disorder treatment programs also meet diagnostic criteria for another mental illness.” Some of these mental disorders include depression, anxiety, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome. These mental disorders mainly start to show during adolescence, which can be very risky when you mix substances into the picture. “It is also true that having a mental disorder in childhood or adolescence can increase the risk of later drug use and the development of a substance use disorder. Some research has found that mental illness may precede a substance use disorder, suggesting that better diagnosis of youth mental illness may help reduce

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