Social Cognitive Theory Essay

These numbers reveal that teenagers face an apparent exposure to drugs, and have little trouble getting a hold of some if desired. This article concludes that drug use and its consequences are not stressed enough in the current high school curriculum. The statistics prove that more needs to be done to identify and educate students at risk for drug use.

Teenage drug abuse is an issue that can result from a wide variety of social influences, stressful events, and mental disorders. Drug abuse among adolescents is a troubling issue because it decreases focus, increases the chance of consistency in behavior during adulthood, increases the chances of developing emotional issues, permanently damages the brain, and damages tissues in every system that can lead to death. Previous scientific research has identified that social factors, including the media and peers, play an important role in psychological development and impact the adolescent's decision to start experimenting with substances (Botvin 888). Appropriate solutions for the teenage drug abuse issue already exist, but the only remaining

Three decades from now, T.L.O., a student at a New Jersey High School was caught smoking in a school restroom, and was brought to the assistant principal’s office. The 14-years-old teenager denied smoking, so the assistant principal persisted in searching her purse and found cigarettes, and rolling paper which is associated with marijuana (T.L.O. vs. New Jersey). Nothing has changed since then. If you look a little closer, you can see teenagers lying around doing drugs here and there. They are no longer determined to succeed in life; instead all they can think about is where the next supply of cocaine will come from. What has our future come to? Research done by scientists and other professionals provide evidence that substance abuse by teenagers is an ever-growing problem due to teen’s poor judgement, it’s irreparable damage, and inability to compete with drug addiction.

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

You might find it difficult to read the data related to teenage drug abuse and addiction. Based on recent stats, the picture is not pretty and the information indicates that Americans are not doing enough to combat the problem of teenage drug

Adolescence, usually defined as individuals between the ages of 12 and 20, is a period of transition, brain development and challenges1, 2, 3. Adolescence is the peak time to engage in risk taking behaviors2. Substance use is a common occurrence among adolescents. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has identified adolescent substance use as one of the United States’ top public health concerns4. In fact, an individual’s chance of becoming a cigarette smoker drastically declines if smoking is not initiated by the time the individual is 18 years old. Alcohol and Marijuana are the most commonly used substances among adolescents1,2,3. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study, the Center for Antisocial Drug Dependence, Monitoring the

There has shown no decline since 2012 in use of the six illicit drugs (cannabis, cocaine or crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens or heroin) as well as no decline in the five illicit drugs (cocaine or crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens or heroin) (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). We aren’t preventing and recovering fast enough, and just as many people how are recovering are starting to use. 23% of youths 15-19 and 27% of young adults 20-24 are users of illicit drugs (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). This means that there is a high amount of youths that are taking drugs. Along with the drug problem in Canada, we also have a major problem with alcohol. 76% of Canadians report using alcohol in the past year (“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). 60% of youths aged 15-19 and 83% of young adults aged 20-24 have reported alcohol use(“Summary of results for 2013 CTADS”). Teen are using drugs and alcohol from a young age giving them a high chance to become alcohol dependent from a younger age. Showing drugs and alcohol abuse is a major problem in Canada among the younger

Social cognition is the encoding, storage, retrieval, and processing, of information in the brain. It is a process that is generalized within a species, and relates to members of the same species. At one time social cognition referred specifically to an approach to social psychology in which these processes were studied according to the methods of cognitive

Everyday people use social cognition as a tool to help them thrive in social world. There are many important aspects of social cognition that are helpful to us in making decisions and help us to interpret the world around us. An important aspect that is linked to social cognition is that of thought suppression. Thought suppression is when a person tries to force particular thoughts, memories or feelings out of their minds that may be unpleasant or may cause a great deal of stress for the individual. Many people are unaware how often we use thought suppression in our daily lives, but the truth is we use it in almost every aspect of our day.

Adolescent substance abuse is a major problem in society. There are many risk factors that can contribute to adolescent substance abuse. One of the main risk factors is peer pressure. When adolescents start at a young age there is an increase in health problems, addiction, and over all poor social outcomes. Parental influence has substantial effect on adolescents because the adolescent sees their parents and they learn by their example. Media plays a role in the use of drug and alcohol use among young people. Many school systems have implemented programs that teach adolescents about the problems of substance abuse that is funded

Since 1990, the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program conducted by the National Institute of Justice has measured substance abuse among male detainees/arrestees in 12 jurisdictions across the country. The DUF data indicates the increases in illicit drug use by youth between 1993 and 1995. In 1995, youth were tested positive for at least one drug ranged from 19 percent in Portland, OR, to 58 percent in Washington, D.C. DUF data, which doesn’t a lot information on alcohol use by juveniles, shown in 1995 that the illicit drug most frequently used by delinquent youth was marijuana (National Institute of Justice, 1994 and

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was created by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 to aid in the declination of illicit drugs within the United States. The ONDCP advises the president on drug-control issues, coordinates drug-control activities and related funding across the Federal government, and produces the National Drug Control Strategy. Within the National Drug Control Strategy, several goals of the ONDCP are projected. Specifically, this strategy illuminates seven core goals. The goals are to prevent drug use in communities; seek early intervention opportunities in health care; integrate treatment for substance use disorder into health care and supporting recovery; break the cycle of drug use, crime, and incarceration; disrupt domestic drug trafficking and production; strengthen international partnerships; and improve information systems to better address drug use and its consequences. The purpose behind these core goals are to aid in the reduction of substance abuse at an individualistic level so that society can deviate away from illicit drugs as a whole. One prevention mechanism the ONDCP employ is knowledge. More finely, the development and distribution of information on youth drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. Examples of such information can occur by supporting substance abuse prevention on college campuses, expanding research on understudied substances, or preparing reports on health risks of youth substance use. This prevention tactic is successful

The first factor is the individual characteristics of a person which is known as an internal factor. Within the individual characteristics of the Social Cognitive theory there is the person’s self-efficacy, self-control, behavioral capability, expectation, expectancy, and emotional coping. Self- efficacy is the level of confidence they have in themselves to make a behavioral change. Self-control has to be high because it allows the individual to have control over their actions. Behavioral capability also helps because in order for them to keep the behavioral changes they must have the information and level of skill to decide to change their behavior.

Since 2000, the drug use rate in America has risen to the highest it’s ever been. In a survey done in 2009, 8.7 percent of people age 12 and up said that they used illegal substances within a month of taking the survey, a 9 percent increase since 2008 (Abuse, National Institute on Drug, 2010). This statistic alone is very concerning due to

Alcohol is the number one drug problem among America’s youth. More senior high school students use alcohol than any other psychoactive drug. Family doctors, pediatricians, schoolteachers, and parents know that alcohol is overwhelmingly the drug of choice among today’s youth, although trendier substances such as cocaine are often given more attention in the headlines (Carla Felsted, p. vii). Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that drinking alcohol is a part of the youth culture in America; it may also be understood as a culturally conditioned and socially controlled behavior.