Having access to drugs puts teens at risk of substance abuse. Other factors that increase adolescent vulnerability to drug use include age, gender, poor judgment and the belief that drug use is an acceptable behavior. Early stages of contemplation and experimentation can quickly escalate to poly-drug use and addiction in teenagers. Understanding some of the risk factors and causes of adolescent substance abuse may help guide prevention and intervention efforts.
Stress
Bullying, family conflict, natural disasters, leaving home and other social stressors impact the vulnerability of adolescents to drug abuse. A Canadian study published in the February 2010 issue of "Physiology and Behavior" used an animal model of social instability to gauge the effect of mild adolescent social stress on brain function and adaptation to subsequent stressors. The researchers found that such environmental factors had gender-based influences. The physiologic effects of stress were stronger on the immediate substance abuse behaviors of males. For females, the effects of stress were delayed but substance abuse behaviors were carried into adulthood, long after the triggering events took place. According to the National Institutes of Health, a lack of family bonding and parental alcoholism or drug addiction are risk factors for teenage drug use.
Emotions
Teens struggling with emotional health issues may be vulnerable to using substances that promise temporary thrills and relief from depression. Scientists in the Netherlands studied the links between teen substance abuse and anxiety, hopelessness and sensation-seeking among 3,783 children between the ages of 11 and 15. Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana were measured by age of onset and poly-drug use, or using more than one substance at a time. The research findings were published in the July 2010 "Journal of Behavioral Medicine." While anxiety in children did not correlate with early alcohol use, early onset and poly-substance drug abuse were greatest among subjects with higher levels of hopelessness. Sensation-seeking was also associated with adolescent drug use.
ADHD
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, exhibit decreased impulse control, inattention and may have difficulty in social interactions. The prospective effects of ADHD on adolescent substance abuse were studied as part of the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Seven hundred sixty female twins and 752 male twins took part. Inattention alone posed less risk than hyperactivity and impulsivity, which were strongly correlated to the development of substance abuse disorders by age 18. The findings were published in the October 2007 issue of "Archives of General Psychiatry."
References
- "Physiology & Behavior", An Animal Model of Social Instability Stress in Adolescence and Risk for Drugs of Abuse, McCormick CM, Feb. 9 2010, 99(2)
- NIDA: Preventing Drug Abuse Among Children and Adolescents
- "Journal of Behavioral Medicine", Substance Use Risk Profiles and Associations with Early Substance Use in Adolescence, Malmberg M, July 13, 2010
- "Archives of General Psychiatry", Prospective Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Sex on Adolescent Substance Use and Abuse, Elkins IJ, et. al., October 2007, 64(10)
