Preventing Addiction

1570 Words4 Pages

Addiction, addict, addicted, and addicting, are all words that are socially frowned upon. Yet adolescent addiction is on the rise, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, prescription drug use in particular is on the rise. On the other hand, use of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and hallucinogens have decreased, but marijuana use has remained the same. Most addiction starts at the adolescent age when teens are trying to find themselves, and find relief from the social problems they encounter (Parvizy 2005). Researchers have looked into the different factors that can increase the risk of an adolescent becoming addicted to some form of drug or alcohol.

In 2005, Parvizy et.al. did a qualitative study on the how adolescents perceived addiction. The study included 41 adolescents ranging from ages 14-19. The study was completely anonymous, and if the students wanted to quit at any time they could, they could also ask for the tapes that the researchers had used to record the responses. Interviews were only conducted between the student and the interviewer, that way to maintain confidentiality. The interviews were conducted at the student’s place of choice. Interviewers wanted to make the interview as comfortable as possible so that the students would not hesitate to truthfully answer questions (Parvizy 2005).

Demographics were taken on each student and an interview guide containing a set of questions were used in data collection. Each interview lasted anywhere between thirty minutes and three hours across one to three sessions. After the interviews, the tapes were reviewed in depth and data was collected and separated into categories based on frequent themes throughout the interviews. Reviewing the tap...

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...involved in a child’s life while teaching them about the choices they have and guiding them in the right direction (Cranford 2010).

Works Cited

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H.E. (2010). Parental alcohol involvement and adolescent alcohol

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Parvizy, S., Alireza, N., Tehrani, S.P., & Shahrokhi, S. (2005).

Adolescents’ perspectives on addiction: qualitative study. Nursing

and Health Sciences, 7(3), 192-198. 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2005.00237.x

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