Youth And Its Effects On Youth

Adolescence is a time where adolescents grow and mature at a rapid rate. It is also a time where adolescents are more vulnerable to taking risks, such as using and becoming addicted to illegal substances, due to raging hormones. Whether or not an adolescent chooses to engage in drug use and abuse depends on their home environment and those they choose to associate themselves with. Adolescents are confronted with an enormous amount of pressure to participate in risky behaviors by their peers. According to Broderick and Blewitt (2015), “risky behaviors are behaviors that constitute a departure from socially accepted norms or behaviors that pose a threat to the well-being of individuals or groups” (p. 389). One such risky behavior is drug use and addiction. Some adolescents use cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs in order to get “high”. Adolescents who engage in drug use are likely to become addicted, and thus, their addiction will negatively affect their brain development.

Years ago, the common image of an adolescent drug abuser was a teen trying to escape from reality on illegal substances like cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Today, there is a great discrepancy between that perception and the reality of who is likely to abuse drugs. A teenage drug abuser might not have to look any further than his or her parent’s medicine chest to ‘score.’ Prescription drug abuse by teens is on the rise. Also, teens are looking to prescription drugs to fulfill different needs other than to feel good or escape the pressures of adulthood. Teens may be just as likely to resort to drugs with ‘speedy’ side effects, like Ritalin to help them study longer, as they are to use prescription

Teenage drug abuse is an issue that can result from a wide variety of social influences, stressful events, and mental disorders. Drug abuse among adolescents is a troubling issue because it decreases focus, increases the chance of consistency in behavior during adulthood, increases the chances of developing emotional issues, permanently damages the brain, and damages tissues in every system that can lead to death. Previous scientific research has identified that social factors, including the media and peers, play an important role in psychological development and impact the adolescent's decision to start experimenting with substances (Botvin 888). Appropriate solutions for the teenage drug abuse issue already exist, but the only remaining

Substance abuse isn’t a new thing. Long ago since the start of human history, people have looked for ways to alter our consciousness with the use of herbs, alcohol and drugs.

Trepidations pertaining to young people, being unable to fulfil their educational goals, being involved in antisocial activities, expelled from mainstream schools because of truancy and other disruptive transgressions or out of work, reinforce the obligation to the end child poverty ingenuity implemented by the Coalition Government in 1999. Equally, in their manifesto, the Conservatives avowed to enhance the emphasis on assisting families and vulnerable young people. Subsequently, this is trailed by the government’s enactment of pertinent policies to try and refine the life probabilities of young people who have numerous concerns. Likewise, this has prompted the invention of more initiatives, including the advent of the targeted youth programs.

A drug is a substance that alters the mind, body or both. Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in colleges today. Most drug use begins in the preteen and teenage years, the years most crucial in the maturation process (Shiromoto 5). During these years adolescents are faced with difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer

Adolescent substance abuse is a phenomenon in our country that has been steadily inclining ever since the 2000’s. The effects of this incline are very straight forward and call for action. The facts are that alcohol and drugs are the leading causes of crime among youth and that alcohol and drugs are the leading factors in teenage suicide. (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., 2014) Because adolescence is such a crucial developmental age the effects of alcohol and drug use are catastrophic. To fully understand this phenomenon we must firs operationalize all of the factors we are trying to study. The DSM V classifies substance abuse as,

There has shown no decline since 2012 in use of the six illicit drugs (cannabis, cocaine or crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens or heroin) as well as no decline in the five illicit drugs (cocaine or crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens or heroin) (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). We aren’t preventing and recovering fast enough, and just as many people how are recovering are starting to use. 23% of youths 15-19 and 27% of young adults 20-24 are users of illicit drugs (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). This means that there is a high amount of youths that are taking drugs. Along with the drug problem in Canada, we also have a major problem with alcohol. 76% of Canadians report using alcohol in the past year (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). 60% of youths aged 15-19 and 83% of young adults aged 20-24 have reported alcohol use(“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). Teen are using drugs and alcohol from a young age giving them a high chance to become alcohol dependent from a younger age. Showing drugs and alcohol abuse is a major problem in Canada among the younger

Hannah is a fifteen year old girl who was recently sent to a rehabilitation center for the result of abuse of prescription medication. 6.1 million high school students currently use addictive substances, and like Hannah, 1 in 3 of them are addicted (“National Study Reveals,”2011). Although the number of teens using these drugs are decreasing, the numbers are still dangerously high. Due to it’s high risk of addiction, dangerous consequences, and growing availability, substance abuse among teenagers is a serious trend being presented among all United States adolescence.

Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, 9.8 % are estimated to be current users of illicit drugs, with 4.9 % using drugs other than marijuana. Nearly three quarters of students have started to drink alcohol and nearly half (47%) have tried using an illicit drug (not including alcohol or tobacco) by the senior year of high school.” (Hassan, Harris, Sherritt, Van Hook, & Brooks, 2009)

Drug use among our nation’s youth is a major public health concern. The reason for this is substance use which can increase the likelihood of injury, violence, and contraction of diseases such as HIV. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration conducts an annual survey called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in which 67,500 persons aged 12 years old or older are interviewed. This survey is the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. The 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health stated that “an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12

According to teendrugrehabs.com, over 60 percent of teens have reported that drugs of some kind are kept, sold, and used at their school. Over 23 million people over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol or some other drug. One significant issue, among many, that our nation faces is the abuse of drugs and alcohol among our youth. This is a problem for all age groups, but every day more and more people under the age of 18 are experimenting with drugs to “fit in” with the crowd.

Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the teenage years, these years are the most crucial in the maturing process. During these years adolescents are faced with the difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority figures and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and

It has been discovered that most people who struggle with drug addiction began experimenting with drugs in their teens. Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy (Bauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives them.

The following essay will examine the factors involved in young people’s involvement in drug misuse. The essay will pay particular attention to adolescents aged between 11 and 19 and discuss both micro and macro levels of risk factors. I will give focus to three factors that are arguably of equal importance namely, peer pressure; poverty and family issues.