Why Kids Turn to Drugs There is no simple answer to why a young person might begin using alcohol or other drugs. Many times, it is a combination of several factors, including society, family and peers. They may turn to drugs to escape stress or loneliness or to overcome shyness in social situations. They may want to be seen as grown up or as a risk taker. Or, they may simply be curious. Teens often want to be like their role models as well. So, if their favorite music group, older sibling, parents or a "cool" peer at school uses drugs or alcohol, they may also use drugs or alcohol to emulate their role model(s). Adolescence is often a time of low self-esteem, which can develop as a result of not being able to grow and change as quickly …show more content…
It is accessible and seems harmless. It's a chance to take some risks and rebel, a rite of passage. It's a way to feel good. Eventually, for some people, use becomes a frequent part of social outings. Reasons for using are now different than before and use continues despite negative consequences. It becomes a way to: Relax and even to decrease inhibitions. Enhance good feelings and escape bad ones. Cope with stress and personal/family problems. Adolescence is a period of great change. Young people experience a dramatic transformation: they change schools, their bodies change, their relationships with friends and family change, and their needs and desires change. This can be exciting as well as stressful and emotional. The teen years are also a time of making decisions and of discovering one's own values and beliefs around a variety of issues, including health and lifestyle choices. Friends and other outside sources can also influence decisions. The decision to use drugs is therefore influenced by the interaction of many different individual and environmental factors. Unfortunately, many mixed messages surround these issues, and can create a lot of confusion as to what is acceptable and what is not! For example, tobacco and alcohol advertising encourages young people to smoke and drink. A double standard also persists that somehow use is okay when you are older but not okay when you are younger. And alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are
Adolescence is popularly known to be a very tumultuous stage in a person’s life. In the adolescent stage (also coined the identity vs. role confusion stage by theorist Erik Erikson) bodies are changing rapidly, emotions are unfamiliar and unexplainable, and refraining from succumbing to peer pressure is more challenging than ever.
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
Adolescence is a time when everything we've ever known is being changed. Relationships, friends, thoughts, and other things that shape who we are become more awkward and confusing and are changed from what they have been in the past. Consequently, we will change also because all these things shape who we are. During a period of such change, it's hard to know who we really are. Adolescence is the time when we find out who we truly are, but not until we know who we aren't. Adolescents use common words, actions, and rivalries to try to define their unique personalities, goals, and ideas. They label
Adolescence is the period between childhood and emerging adulthood (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). According to Behm-Morawitz and Mastro (2008), this period is generally categorized by development in different spheres of life and often revolves around an increased independence and freedom. In addition, during this period adolescents start to forge a sense of identity. The concept of identity refers to who you as a person and
One of the most trying and confusing periods in a person’s life is adolescences. The period of adolescence can be both thrilling and trying times in a one life. We experience a great deal of growth during this period. Adolescence is also a period where we begin to leave a childhood behind and take our first steps into adulthood. When we begin this journey into adulthood we begin to lose our some of our innocence.
Adolescence is a time in which you are still with your family. You do not have to support yourself or worry about being financially stable. You are in some ways still a child. There are no big stressors in life at this time.
During adolescence, children go through the process of creating their own identity. They find where they fit in, they learn what careers they may want to
Adolescence most important task is to develop an identity separate from one’s parents, a social and sexual role that supports their life. As an adolescence, peers are one factor that shapes you into who you are. However, it is easy to get caught up in the wrong crowd, experience insecurity, anxiety, depression, and have an increasingly high expectations of others. Biologically the changes during
Substance abusers could lose their jobs and their relationships if others found out the extent of the use. Regular abusers do not require other people to join along with the use. In fact, they often use alone in order to save face. These individuals are often seen chewing gum and mysteriously sneaking away from the crowd. Eventually, the substances will take a toll on their body; therefore, they must go through more extensive measures to hide their use. The users may become more distant in efforts to conceal their problem. Because of some traumatic event, one may begin using regularly to mask their pain. As an example, after his wife’s passing a man may turn his social drinking into regular use. Regardless of the reason why, substance abuse is not a positive thing. It may make the individual feel better for a few hours, but it always leads to more use. Using addictive substances regularly, ensures a quick path to becoming an
Base on the Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society textbook, it reads that a survey was conducted in 1894 which ask high school students who used drugs, why do young people turn to drugs? The two results that seem more logical were “to have a good time with my friends” and “to relax or relived tension” (Levinthal, 2014). Adolescents use drugs as a way of looking good among others and have the time of their life. Also, several teens who encounter traumatic experiences during their adolescent years, turn to drugs to feel better and forget the real world problems they are facing. Little do they know that they might be affecting their future.
Everyone has had the childhood memory of teachers, parents, and even your old folks saying “Don’t do drugs they’ll mess up your life and you won’t amount to anything.” Even more so with my mom after all being brought up with a drug dealer dad can alter your perception on many things and for kid who saw things that was far more mature then what 5 year old child should see. Which as a kid that is very frightening and would scare away the thought of consuming drugs or anything in that area. Unfortunately as the old saying goes “curiosity kills the cat.” Which happens to most of the young adults entering high school as a freshman by the time we reach this point many of us have been exposed to many different types of story and takes on drugs some
With the world we live in today there are all types of new drugs. The more drugs that are out there the more drugs that teens are going to try. In high school is when most teens will be peer pressured by their friends to try “something new”. “The results revealed that 78 percent of U.S. teens had drank alcohol, and 47
Adolescence is the transitional period in a persons life time that links childhood and adulthood. The factors that influence development during adolescence include genetic/biological and environmental/social. There are many developmental issues that take place during the transition from an adolescent to a young adult. The issues of emerging adulthood(18-25) are characterized by new experiences, experimentation, exploration as well as new developmental tasks.
Adolescence is a period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity. The adolescent is no longer a child, but they haven’t yet reached adulthood. Adolescence is considered people between the ages of 13 and 21. Puberty is the physical maturing that makes an individual capable of sexual reproduction. Puberty is important to adolescence because when a child hits puberty, that’s when the child is becoming an adolescent. Puberty is a big part of an adolescent’s life.
Drugs between teenagers is one of the most serious problems, because it causes a change in the behavior of any teenager and a physical change too. Most of the teenagers use alcoholic drinks as a way to escape