According to the data from a statistic done by the Canadian center of substance abuse, in 2004 to 2012 the initiation age of alcohol use has delayed from 15.6 years old to 16.2 years old. The thought alone of thinking that a 15-year-old child might be consuming drugs and drinking alcohol would sound terrifying and concerning to most parents. Though the improvement of 0.6 years is admirable, it does not change the fact that the legal age is still far from the age most adolescents begin to consume alcohol. The causes for substance use are everywhere. Some might say way to use drugs and alcohol to hide their emotions or it could be a form of socialization. Socialization is a life long process what we all go through by which we create our …show more content…
Therefore, the research question driving this paper is; Is there a relationship between substance abuse and adolescent self-esteem?
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The three reoccurring themes that are covered and will be discussed are; Parental-Adolescent Conflict, Peer Relationships, and Satisfaction.
Parental Behaviour. The vast majority of researches focuses on the between the parent-child relationship. Most researches mentions that the parent and child relationship is factor always present in many cases of adolescent substance use (Caughlin et al. 2004; Henry et al. 2003; Jones et al. 1998; Slicker et al. 2004.). Though the parental involvement is a common factor between all of the articles, the approach in how they affect adolescents differ between articles. All of the four articles focused about the withdraw and demand between parent and child, while the other one also focuses on the child imitation of their parents based how they act. Henry et al. (2003) found that adolescents with parents who employ authoritative parenting, in which parents show high levels of support and use logical reasoning to exercise control, used alcohol more rationally compared to the adolescents with parents who use more of an authoritarian approach, which favors or enforces strict obedience and high demands but low responsiveness. Because of the poor communication brought by an authoritarian approach, the
Parents who use drugs or alcohol are likely to overlook their children leaving them to their own diplomacy. Since such parents are often lost in their addictions, they are unable to provide the proper leadership that children need particularly throughout their growing days (Sindelar & Fiellin 2001). Teenagers bred in homes where a dear blood relation uses alcohol or drugs, have a superior propensity for developing the dependence afterward, generally because the family is more relaxed in terms of drugs use. The result of alcohol or drug abuse on relations involved and results may differ between families based on a numerous factors. Families affected by substance abuse have one thing in comparison; they reside in homes where traits
Research shows the young adolescents who are exposed before 14 years of ages are more likely to develop dependence or addiction to the substance used. Another primary protective prevention method is by good and strict parenting. Parents should be able to monitor their child’s activities or influences to prevent experimentation of substances and also strong close family bonds (Ford, 2016). Support from the family members is very critical in the preventive precautions of a child. Because again one of the major factors that lead to substance about starts at home. Parents must be present throughout the childhood years to guide and orient the child.
Growing up with substance abuse parents can potentially put the children at risk for developmental deficiencies. Parents who are substance dependent are oftentimes focus on themselves over their children, and this leads to neglecting the children. Without the attachment with the parents, children are lack of security and trust to explore the outside world. According to Erik Erikson, children develop at different stage. Infants are totally dependent on their parents. If parents provide the good care and support to the children, they will develop the basic trust to their parents and the world, otherwise, they will feel insecure and develop mistrust instead. This mistrust may cause problems later in life. As children begin to grow and navigate the challenges of adolescence, parental substance abuse has a direct impact on their well-being, as well as their behavior. Teenagers are eager to seek their identities. Yet, growing up with mistrust, inferiority, and shame
According to current statistics released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, “In the United States in 2011, there were an estimated 25.1 million adolescents aged 12 to 17. In the past year, more than one quarter of adolescents drank alcohol, approximately one fifth used an illicit drug, and almost one eighth smoked cigarettes” ("A Day in the Life of American Adolescents," 2013, para. 1). Substance abuse is major problem amongst adolescents. Some are experimenting, but some adolescents may become dependent on a particular substance. If one becomes dependent on a substance as an adolescent it could be detrimental to their future health and success as an adult. Spear (2003) stated in an article titled Alcohol’s
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,
The focus of alcohol needs to be on educating the youth about responsible drinking instead of on restriction. American teenagers, unlike European teens do not have the opportunity to be taught how to drink gradually, carefully, and in moderation. “Though the per capita consumption of alcohol in countries like France, Spain, and Portugal is greater than in the U.S., the rate of alcoholism and alcohol abuse is lower” (“Cross Fire”). Due to legal restriction in this country, young people in America postpone drinking until they can no longer benefit from their parents’ supervision and guidance (Don). “Irrefutable evidence supports the fact that the early introduction of drinking is the safest way to reduce juvenile alcohol abuse” (Ford). Young adults need an opportunity to learn sensible and moderate drinking in controlled and safe circumstances. Parents should be allowed to serve their children alcohol and young adults should be permitted to drink in controlled environments such as restaurants. Alcohol needs to be portrayed as a natural, normal
In this paper, I look at forms of substance abuse and the effects on children. I will be using the following headings to break down the different issues associated with this social problem: social causes, phenomenon, and consequences. I hope to educate those that may be ignorant to the situation, and help to spark a flame that can be used to not be a bystander, but a solution to the problem at hand.
In recent years, numerous studies have focused on the conditions and influences of substance use in the development of adolescents worldwide. Current studies are discovering multiple pathways and important risk factors that contribute to the increasing usage of substances surrounding adolescents. Specifically, considerable data referring to the influence of adolescent’s self-esteem to substance abuse. In order to fully understand the complexity of substance abuse, one must consider multiple factors that impact an adolescent’s life greatly, such as their environment and self-esteem. In order to consider the single influence of substance abuse to an adolescent, research must focus on finding similar patterns among substance use, environments, and self-esteem. Research shows that children affected by substance abuse show similar patterns of low self-esteem. These substance abusive experiences include specific socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, homes with parents that use substances, and adolescent’s own substance abuse struggles. These three different pathways of substance abuse have an equifinal deficit of an adolescent’s self-esteem.
Would an adolescent with a moderate to good relationship with a parent be likely to model that parents substance use verses a poor relationship with the parent? This was the hypothesis, highlighting views from social learning theory, which the authors set out to answer. Parent adolescent relationship quality has been considered a primary risk factor for adolescent substance use. Few studies have observed duel risk factors of parent substance use and quality of parent adolescent relationship in one model. The authors will gather the data and construct a model to
The article entitled, Parental and Peer Influences on the Risk of Adolescent Drug use is about multiple studies with using a sample of adolescents from grades seventh to twelfth grade. They wanted to see how much peers and families effect the drug use of adolescents. In these studies, they found that peers and families have very strong effect on adolescents on drug use. There are many different factors that can affect adolescent from using drugs such as Parents attitudes on drugs, if an older brother or sister that uses drugs, friends that uses drugs and adult drug use. They have found ways that can help prevent adolescent drug use by parents watching their kids more often (parental monitoring), and also how closely attached they are to their children which means how much they spend time with them such as doing activities together or spending quality time as a whole family. In this article the reason why they did this research is see how peers and family effects on drug use is to have parents be more aware how much they themselves can influence their kids from doing drugs. Parental drug attitudes are how parents feel about their child from doing drugs Research in this article suggest that how their parents attitudes about drugs will determine how much their child will do it, for example if parents don’t want their child to drink alcohol and they told them not to ever use numerous of times then the son or daughter have a lower
Substance abuse is thought to have two major causes which caused substance abusers. Statistically, a full 100% the abuser start to abuse to feel good which have a great role in making a person start abuse, according to the united states news that 90% of abusers start before age of 18. According to the NIH most abusers abuse drugs which produce a great feeling of pleasure and happiness .This initial sensation of euphoria comes before the other effects which differ from the type of the drug used . Also people who suffer from social anxiety and depression start to abuse drugs to feel better as a result the people around abusers either family or people living around them will suffer from losing the abusers or being hurt because of the abuser
When looking at parental addiction to alcohol, Sharon Wegcheider-Cruse developed a concept of certain behavioral roles that children of alcoholics take on in order to cope with the addiction issues of the parent which can often lead to emotional harm. Wegcheider-Cruse separates the behavioral roles into four distinct categories each with a different name comprising a hero, a scapegoat, a lost child, and a mascot. When a child takes on a “hero” behavioral role, they are often referred to as the “model child” and are known to take over the family responsibilities which the parents are not addressing. Although there are many positives to a young child taking on this role in the family, including becoming independent, being responsible, and often over achieving, there are many negative impacts made on the child’s emotional state and behavior as well. These negatives consist of having a fear of rejection, having feelings of low self worth, striving for perfection, ignoring
Social influences include low socio-economic status of the individual, low levels of parental guidance and education, family or domestic issues at home, presence of a history of alcoholism in the family, lack of rules on alcohol use in the family setting and peer pressure.
Every problem has a beginning, where the domino effect starts. In most cases people get started drinking not because they like it, but because it is illegal and it gives them a chance to rebel. The so-called “rebel” becomes bored of drinking alone and eventually seeks “company” when they are drinking. The only catch is that the “rebel” can not be the only one drinking so the “company” has to drink. This is where the problem with peer pressure and teenage drinking begins and the first domino starts the chain reaction. There are two types of peer pressure. There is direct peer pressure where a subject’s peers actually force him into having a drink. There is also indirect peer pressure where the subject enters a setting and his peers are drinking so he decides to have a drink to fit in with the rest of his peers (Articles-Teenage Drinking 2). Surveys show that alcohol abuse is related to teenage activities such as going on dates and going to parties (Teenage Alcohol Misuse 2).
Thesis Statement: The issues of youthful substance mishandle is essentially caused by stressful life occasions, peer impact and neglection of youngsters by guardians.