Adolescence is a time of experimentation and risk taking. Teens naturally test the boundaries laid down by their parents and society as they strive to establish their independence and dabble in adult experiences. Unfortunately, their natural curiosity and enthusiasm for living sometimes causes adolescents to engage in dangerous behaviors, including alcohol and substance abuse.
Alcohol Abuse
According to two major ongoing studies of adolescent alcohol and substance abuse---the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Monitoring the Future Survey---rates of teen alcohol abuse decreased between the late 1990s and the late 2000s. For example, the number of high school students who reported binge drinking, defined as having five or more drinks in a row within a couple of hours on at least one of the previous 30 days, decreased from 33.4 percent in 1997 to 24.2 percent in 2009, according to the YRBS. However, most would agree that this number is still way too high.
Substance Abuse
The late 2000s brought declines in the teen use of cigarettes, methamphetamine, amphetamines, cocaine and hallucinogens, according to the MTF survey. However, although the rate of adolescent marijuana use was steady between 2004 and 2009, it was quite high, with 32.8 percent of high school seniors reporting past-year use. In addition, the use of prescription pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin has seen a dramatic rise. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the proportion of 12-to-17-year-old drug abuse treatment patients who admitted abusing pain relievers increased from 0.6 percent to 5.2 percent between 1998 and 2008.
Causes
While various factors may contribute to teen alcohol and substance abuse, teens themselves typically rate peer pressure at the top of the list. "There's a lot of pressure when you see others drinking and you think the right thing to do is to join in," says Skylar H., a 16-year-old quoted in "Current Health2" magazine. According to the MTF survey, the rates of abuse are highest for substances that teens perceive to be least risky; thus, a lack of awareness of the adverse consequences of drug use contributes to substance abuse among adolescents.
Consequences
Adolescent alcohol and substance abuse can result in both immediate and long-term consequences. Different drugs cause different types of harm. For example, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana abuse can impair a teen's short-term memory, making learning difficult. Inhalant abuse can result in unconsciousness, brain damage or death due to heart failure or suffocation. Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, have found evidence that teen binge drinking may lead to permanent brain damage and increase the risk for alcoholism in adulthood. These are just a few of the many potential consequences of adolescent alcohol and substance abuse.
Prevention
There is no simple way to prevent alcohol and substance abuse among adolescents. However, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has developed a list of 16 principles to guide school- and community-based prevention efforts. These principles include intervening early in order to minimize risk factors, such as aggressive behavior and deviant attitudes, and to increase protective factors such as parental support and academic success. According to NIDA, the best prevention programs "employ interactive techniques, such as peer discussion groups and parent role-playing, that allow for active involvement in learning about drug abuse and reinforcing skills."
References
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: NIDA InfoFacts: High School and Youth Trends
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Trends in the Prevalence of Alcohol Use
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions Involving Abuse of Pain Relievers: 1998 and 2008
- "Current Health2, a Weekly Reader publication"; Begging Off on Booze: What You Do When You Don't Want to Drink?; Mark Rowh; February 2009
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2009
