The Effects Of Nicotine Dependence On Adolescents

Adolescence is a time where adolescents grow and mature at a rapid rate. It is also a time where adolescents are more vulnerable to taking risks, such as using and becoming addicted to illegal substances, due to raging hormones. Whether or not an adolescent chooses to engage in drug use and abuse depends on their home environment and those they choose to associate themselves with. Adolescents are confronted with an enormous amount of pressure to participate in risky behaviors by their peers. According to Broderick and Blewitt (2015), “risky behaviors are behaviors that constitute a departure from socially accepted norms or behaviors that pose a threat to the well-being of individuals or groups” (p. 389). One such risky behavior is drug use and addiction. Some adolescents use cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs in order to get “high”. Adolescents who engage in drug use are likely to become addicted, and thus, their addiction will negatively affect their brain development.

     In the world today, Nicotine is one of the most frequently used addictive drugs. The impact it has on society is like no other. It is one of more than 4,000 chemicals found in the smoke of tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. This addictive drug is the primary component in tobacco that acts on the brain.

This essay will consider how each of the 5 psychological perspectives explain smoking. I will cover the psychodynamic, the behaviouristic, the biological, the cognitive and the humanistic approach.

Functional assessment revealed that smoking behaviour was often preceded by a busy or stressful environment (antecedent) and that mood and/or anxiety levels functioned as establishing operations for smoking behaviour (smoking was often preceded by higher anxiety rating or lower mood rating). As well, the functional assessment revealed that smoking behaviour was maintained by positive sensory stimulation (the experience of a slight “buzz” when smoking) and by temporary escape/distraction from a demanding environment.

The causes of chain smoking vary from a teenage trying to fit in to an adult smoking to relieve stress. People who chain smoking know the negative effects on the body, but they sometimes do not care how they are affected physically and mentally.

the use of Cigarettes and tobacco an negatively affect the Mental , physical and Emotional

The first research article that I chose to discuss is “The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a Midwestern community sample: Multiple trajectories and their psychosocial correlates.” This research extended from 1980-1983. It took place in a county school system in the Midwest. The group for study consisted of 6-12th graders and included those who graduated from the years 1980-1989. The total student’s who were questioned and assessed at least one time was 8,556. A follow up assessment was performed in 1987 at that time 73% of the participants were reevaluated; they were between the ages of 15 and 25. In 1993 another follow up was done; again 73% were reevaluated

In the study, 787 smokers in Massachusetts were tracked after they quit smoking for five years. During that time, they answered three surveys about their smoking use. With each survey, an

As reported by Heather’s, Nicotine contains a large amount of toxic substance which can lead to several causes and effects to health. The substances in nicotine effects on the brain and its addicted. When a person smokes, the nicotine substance travels to the brain within 10 seconds and changes the function of the brain. “Blood that enters the lungs to picks up oxygen also pickup something else – the nicotine”. It also rises the blood pressure by five to ten points and heart rate by ten to twenty beats per minute. However, nicotine also performs as a sense of feeling of pleasure. Nicotine reaches to brain within a speedy rate and disperses soon conversely, its increases use of cigarettes.

A Tobacco plant is made up of approximately 5 percent of nicotine by weight. There are two categories of tobacco products cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Nicotine has many effects on the body but the effect it has on the brain is responsible for the so called “good feeling” that is behind the addiction. Nicotine is considered to be addictive because of the psychological and physiological effects on a person. The Center for the Advancement of Health published the results of a study on teenager smokers:

1. The purpose of the study was to assess in detail, the long-term effects of nicotine exposure on the brain of young adolescents, during which it is not fully matured, therefore are more susceptible to the changes. Because of the neuroplasticity of the brain, exposure at a young age, may greatly impact the development/functions of the frontal cortical regions and lead to changes that persist into adulthood which is why this study is important thus the rationale behind this study was that if greater dependence of this drug is an issue in adulthood, then what kind of changes and declines are we seeing in the cognitive functioning of the brain, as the dependence grows. The hypothesis was in relation to the fact that if this study shows disturbances

This instrument provided a direct measure of the carbon monoxide in parts per million (CO ppm). The MINI is a short structured diagnostic interview for researchers to accurately determine the presence of any psychiatric disorders according to DSM-IV or ICD-10 [31, 32]. It was administered in either English or in the Malay language, according to the patient’s preference and main spoken language. Previous research has shown that 39.4% of smokers failed to meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria for nicotine dependence [33]. Hence, the FTND-M was used to assess the nicotine dependence among schizophrenia patients in this study. This easy-to-use self-report questionnaire is noninvasive, low-cost, and easy to score and has good validity and reliability for determining nicotine dependence among the smokers [30]. In our study, the patients were categorized as nicotine dependent if they had a score of more than two of that on the FTND-M [30]. Furthermore, all the

Nicotine has a powerful addicting effect because it is absorbed rapidly into the pulmonary circulation following inhalation from which it passes through the left side of the heart and into the cerebral circulation. It rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds to specific receptors in various parts of the brain. Stimulation of receptors by nicotine results in the activation of a number of neurohumoral pathways leading to release of acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, vasopressin and various hormones. Nicotine causes the release of the substance b-endorphin, an endogenous peptide that also binds to opiate receptors. This indicates a link between addiction to opiates, such as morphine and heroin, and addiction to nicotine.

Prochaska & DiClemente. (1983). Stages and Processes of Self-Change of Smoking. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 390-395.

Sometime back one of my friends who were a regular smoker claimed to feel good and motivated to do any task after he smoked. Although he later on stopping smoking he always said that smoking was the best thing that had happened in his life. I, later on, discovered that the reason behind his happy mood after taking a puff was contributed by nicotine, which triggered his brain to produce a happy feeling. Use of nicotine is said to cause several social influences. For instance, smoking plays an integral part in starting a conversation among smokers.