How the Use of Drugs and Alcohol Affect High School Achievement

In "Identifying Students at Risk for Drug Use" the web site's author lists factors in a teen's life that can make him or her more susceptible to drug use and its immediate problems, such as low academic achievement, poor class attendance, and dropping out of school. Students coming from a family history of alcoholism, criminal, or antisocial behavior, are at a higher risk for drug use than students who do not have family structure and management problems. Students who have long periods of time without adult supervision and those who have bad school attendance also tend to have a lack of motivation to do school work. This means that they have alternate things to do with their time, so they are not performing as well as they could be as students.

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

There are three main types of drug education, sensational, affective and social. (Reist 19) With the first approach, educators use sensationalist claims and scare tactics to prevent young adults from trying drugs. This method has been proven to be remarkably ineffective, with recipients being more likely to turn to hard drugs and overdose. The second method, the affective approach, was not better. This method was based off the assumption that drug users and alcoholics have a chemical dependency because of a personal weakness or deficit. However, this method refused to acknowledge the recreational users at all. This was a major problem because people can use certain drugs and alcohol in small quantities, in a social setting without ruining their lives. These classes focused on improving decision making skills and improve individual self-esteem. The most current form of drug education focuses on helping young people resist social pressures to use drugs or alcohol. Although these programs have received more funding that other drug education programs, they are still ineffective, with the best programs only stopping or delaying drug use in the very small number of students. (Reist 21) For an education program to be effective, students need to receive truthful information about drugs and their impact on the body. Take cannabis for example, the current system teaches kids that trying

The influence of alcohol and drugs is not a social issue that only involved college-age population. Starting that education begins at home we can estimate this is a general problem in today's society that can be limited only to youngest.

Many young adults who go into a substance abuse treatment program, will discover that they have some type of an underlying mental health issue. There are several reasons for someone to have a type of mental health issue before they start using or while they are using. Sometimes they already have been diagnosed thus the reason they use substances to replace the prescribed medications, because they don’t like the way prescription medications make them feel. Other times some of these issues develop during the time that the individual has been using substances, in response to an environmental issue, and the person does not know. Sometimes the issue is a lack of growth and development, which occurs due to substances interfering with the young person’s ability to acquire the life skills, the same as persons who do not use substances have learned. In that case, the individual will not know whatever issue exists, or how it will affect them when they stop using.

In this article, authors Virginia Ross and Delong William talk about the problem of drugs and alcohol use among first year college students. While talking about the problems, these authors also provide detail information about prevention. They talk about the negative problems associated with drugs and alcohol use in college result in personal injury, illness and high-risk sexual behavior. Virginia and Delong also talk about its impact on academics. Higher level of alcohol consumption also results in lower grade. Authors talks about the reason why first college students most likely to drink is because college is a big jump from high school with loads of homework. First year students who are staying on campus are more likely to drink then who

There has been much research to prove that drugs cause chemical and structural changes in the brain and its function. As stated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “[Addiction] is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain—they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes can be long-lasting, and can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs” (2014). When the brain is chemically or structurally altered, it changes how the brain functions, influencing continued use of the drug (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). Even though the changes in the brain lead to continued use of the drug and other harmful behaviors exhibited by those who use drugs, people often begin and continue taking drugs because of a lack of healthy connections to other people. Once a person learns to develop healthy relationships with other people, he or she stops taking drugs (Hari,

Alcohol abuse in high school teens is very common . Three-fourths of high school seniors have experimented with alcohol, according to a report by the Fairfax, Va.-based Society for Prevention Research.(M. C. B 1) . 95% of the time high schoolers start drinking because of peer pressure . Also, males are likely to start drinking before females do .Teens that drink often are three times more likely to commit self-harm such as cutting or suicide attempts than teens that don’t drink. Adolescent drinking represents a significant problem in the United States (Doumas 1) . The Effects of Alcohol Abuse in High School teenagers are death, low academics, and health issues .

One study asked counselors about the prevalence of substances used by high school students and found that the counselors most often dealt with alcohol issues (Burrow-Sanchez & Lopez, 2009). While alcohol may be one of the most widely dealt with substances from a counselor’s perspective, it is essential to be able to identify signs of alcohol abuse and other substance abuse so that action can be taken. Signs of substance abuse can vary, but within a school setting school counselors and other stakeholders can look for changes in academic performance, truancy, withdrawal, isolation, impulsive behavior, changes in mood (anxiety, anger, depression, irritation), changes in appearance, poor hygiene, tardiness, dropping out of sports and other school activities, and associating with peers known to use drugs, (Burrow-Sanchez, Jenson, & Clark, 2009; Flaherty, Sutphen, & Ely, 2012; Hagedorn, & Young, 2011). These signs of possible substance abuse issues need to be looked at further if a student is identified as having any of these signs as other things could be going on. For instance, a student may be dealing with their parents divorce and could be tired and not doing homework because the student is listening to their parents fight. This is why it is important that school counselors do look for signs of addiction and assess students properly so that counselors can identify if the student is having an issue with

Alcohol plays a major role on teens in high school because of the things they see their parents do it in front of them .nine times out of ten addictions start from the living environment meaning

The problem with students coming to school high does not just affect them self, it affects everyone in the school. When student are high it is hard for them to learn and concentrate on the correct things. Doing drugs can also cause students to forget things easily so it can make can make it harder to pay attention and remember the tools for the test. It also takes aways from the other students who actually want to learn. Students may starts on a less harmful drug but it can lead to the more harmful and scary drugs. Drugs can also cause mental effects. Students bodies and brains are not fully developed and using drugs can be harmful to them. Not all students do drugs but the ones that do can have behavior issues.

The use of alcohol in adolescences is one of the major health problems in the United States. Adolescent are constantly changing and constantly adapting to the environment, especially when they are in college. This does not only apply to college students only, but even younger adolescents. These adolescent children tend to drink to cope with their emotions or for other reasons. According to Santrock, J. W. (2016), adolescents transition from school (may it be from middle school to high school, or even from high school to college), there tends to be a critical transition in alcohol abuse since they recognize drinking as a common among people their age and is usually largely accepted or even expected by their peers. This goes in play with students

The use of drugs have a huge effect on the brain. Drugs have an ever bigger effect on the lives of the people who partake in them. The use of drugs can hinder the way the brain is meant to function. Cocaine for instence can block the communication of the brain. Neurotransmission involves a variety of chemical substances called neurotransmitters. One neurotransmitter is called a dopamine and this is how the brain communicates. Over time a persons ability to not take the drug becomes compromised. The brain begins to crave that certain drug over a while and it becomes harder and harder for that person to quit using it. When a person shoots, snorts, or even smokes drugs it gets all parts of the brain via bloodstream. Treatment is long and hard

Alcohol usage in adolescents can be detrimental to their future success. Showing to be a persistent problem, alcohol usage still continues to be a trend in high school. Teens tend to binge drink to unhealthy extents that show to be a fatal attribution to qualities needed for schooling. This issue is important specifically because upcoming generations are the future of the workforce, and if students continue to slack and rely on other sources later in life, the suffering will be a ripple effect. Alcohol usage is hindering adolescents in becoming successful by means of damage to the brain, problems in school, and low income later in life. The stimulus material proves to have a mutual theme of preserving hard work ethics and the elimination of

This paper presents analysis of the data on the effects of drug and substance abuse on participation in learning among secondary school students. It also provides the major findings and results of the study and discusses those findings and results against the literature reviewed and study objectives. The study targeted 20 senior high school students and their