Preview

Teenagers, Drugs , and Peer Pressure

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1286 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Teenagers, Drugs , and Peer Pressure
Teenagers, Drugs , and Peer Pressure

Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the teenage years, these years are the most crucial in the maturing process. During these years adolescents are faced with the difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority figures 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 pressure, curiosity, and availability. Drugs addiction among adolescents in turn lead to depression and suicide. One of the most important reasons of teenage drug usage is peer pressure. Peer pressure represents social influences that effect adolescents, it can have a positive or a negative effect, depending on the person's social group. We are greatly influenced by the people around us. In today's schools, drugs are very common, peer pressure usually is the reason for their usage. If the people in your social group use drugs there will be pressure a direct or indirect pressure from them. A person may be offered to try drugs, which is direct pressure. Indirect pressure is when someone sees everyone around him using drugs and he might think that there is nothing wrong with using drugs. Person might try drugs just to fit in the social norms, even if a person has no intentions of using drugs, they might do it just to be considered "cool" by his/her friends. Today drugs are considered to be acceptable by many teenagers. In today's highs schools the availability and variety of drugs is widespread. There is a demand for drugs and the supply is plentiful. Since drugs are so easy accessible, a natural interest in them may develop. A person may hear about

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Go Ask Alice Addiction

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Growing up and entering the teenage years exposes young people to new things that they have never had to deal with before, such as drugs. Many children do not know how to handle a situation when faced with drugs, which opens the possibility of bad decision making. Just one bad decision can lead to a lifetime of addiction and struggling. The use of dangerous drugs is a growing issue amongst teens in real life while also depicted in modern works of literature such as Crank and Go Ask Alice.…

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Teenage drug abuse is one of the largest problems in society today and the problem grows and larger every year. Drugs are a pervasive force in our culture today. To expect kids not to be influenced by the culture of their time is as “unrealistic as believing in the tooth fairy,” (Jauman 140). Teens may feel pressured by their friends to try drugs, they may have easy access to drugs, they may use drugs to rebel against their family or society, or they may take an illegal drug because they are curious about it or the pleasure that it gives…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peer pressure is a big issue for all teenagers in our society. Many teens start doing drugs to be part of the group, and never expect to become an addict. Slightly more than 25% of adolescents, ages 14 to 17, have used illegal drugs (Huebeck). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health states that 8% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, which is over 2 million, in the United States meet diagnostic criteria for abuse or dependence on illicit drugs. Some studies show that the most susceptible teenagers are those in the “popular” group, because they pay attention to what their peers value. While other studies show that the teenagers who socially are not accepted have a higher likelihood of using, and becoming addicted to, drugs.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 2013 an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older were current illicit drug users. It’s available and accessible for anyone who knows where to get it or whom to talk to about it. Interest will develop in a matter of time. For instance, if one teenager hears a personal drug experience from another student in the school, the person may become curious and try to have a connection. Most teenagers today would believe that the first use of drugs is safe. Although there is no instant addiction with the first try, young persons can tend to experiment further and in a matter of time, anyone can have the euphoric effects of the drugs and may keep seeking it in order to function adequately. The accessibility of the drugs and the curiosity and experimentation of the person are high risk factors that can result in a drug addiction among…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Teens who suffer from depression, anxiety, or other psychological disorders may turn to drugs to cope with their problems. Environmental conditions such as parental drug abuse or access to drugs may also lead to teens abusing drugs. Behavioral conditions in which teens act out or actively seek out dangerous behaviors may lead to teen using drugs to produce a euphoric or exaggerated sense of reality to fill a need for excitement. To prevent drug abuse these issues must be addressed and dealt with appropriately.…

    • 2923 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Teens drop out of school after being addicted to the use of drugs. A program like DARE was given to students in middle school, but it is important for teens to also be aware of the risk in high school. If students are offered drugs and they know the consequences they are more likely to refuse rather than try using drugs. When teens use drugs it’s likely for family and health issues to occur. When students are taught about the risk they can get good grades and achieve their…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    More and more teens are turning to the family’s harmless medicine cabinet to harm themselves. Dr. David Smith says, “Kids today are using themselves as experimental laboratories for strange drug combinations that no scientist ever thought of,” (Winters 62). Overall, today’s rate of drug abuse in teenagers has dropped, but the nonmedical use of prescription medication has drastically increased (Chapter 4). Kids around the world are turning away from street drugs, to abuse prescription medication that can be found right at home.…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Substance Abuse Outline

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bibliography lists 7 sources. Drugteen.wps Teen Drug Abuse / Literature Review : This 5 page model literature research report addresses the subject of teen drug abuse and peer pressure. A variety of theories are explored. Bibliography lists 4 sources.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Kids Turn to Drugs

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages

    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).…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    School Locker Searches

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is a crucial period in which experimentation with illicit drugs in many cases begins. Drugs may have strong appeal to young people who are beginning their struggle for independence as they search for identity. Because of their innate curiosity and thirst for new experiences, peer pressures, their resistance to authority, sometimes low self-esteem…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The end result of peer pressure can cause an impact on the academic performance in school. According to an article in the Green Haven Press, one reason why some of those students will go on to use is because as students age, pressure increases. Most commonly, the pressure to use begins at about middle school, although some students said their first encounters with drugs occurred when they were as young as 8. That exposure increases and is especially strong in high school, when parties become commonplace and kids are more rebellious. (Dudley, 2002) Many teens said the need to belong underlies the appeal of drug use. High schooler Joe Felion of St. Paul wrote, "If you ask an adolescent what the most important thing to them is, the answer will probably not be family, school or religion. More often than not the answer will be friends.... It is no surprise that they will do anything to fit in." (Dudley,…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    3). This being said, teenagers are easily influenced to try drugs by their environment. Once initiated, many become dependent on the drug as a way to cope with their overwhelming situations. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (2007) suggests prominent justifications for drug use surrounding the theme of dealing with psychological conditions, untreated trauma, self-medicating to cope with toxic environment and to fit within their desired peer groups. Cocaine can produce chemical and physicals changes to the brain, “ making it harder to act on the desire to quit” (The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, 2007, p. 3) and as adolescent’s brains are still developing, it can produce harmful long-term effects on that individual that could have easily been averted if interventions and education were deliberated prior to the youth as preventive measures. Cocaine abuse is serious because it can lead to the initiation of other much far harmful drugs and even, mixing drugs together once tolerance has developed from explicit usage, consequently concluding in an overdose and major withdrawal from…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The legalization of drugs has been at the center of interminable debate. Drugs have widely been perceived as a dominant threat to the moral fabric of society. Drug use has been attributed as the source responsible for a myriad of key issues. For instance, it is believed that drugs have exacerbated the already weak status of mental health in the United States in which some individuals suffering from mental illness administer illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine in an attempt to self-medicate. Moreover, drugs are blamed for turning auspicious members of the community into worthless degenerates. Thus, vast efforts have been made to regulate the alleged drug problem through various avenues. For example, programs have been created to steer children away from the influence of drugs. School-based programs have endeavored to teach youth strategies to overcome peer pressure as well as how to respond to challenging…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Youth often cite the need to get away from the pressures of life, the pleasurable experience, or just the sheer excitement of doing an illegal activity as reasons why the participate in this type of activity (Feldman, 2014). Another excuse given for using illegal drugs is to increase academic performance. Although I think it was an error with the omission of the word “school”, strangely enough, Feldman (2014) stated, “ A growing number of high students are using drugs such as Adderall”, to increase focus and enable students to study for long periods of time (pp.371-372).…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Teen Drug Rehab

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages

    One of the largest problems in society today is teenage drug abuse. Youth are getting a hold of drugs and abusing it younger and younger every year. Teenagers start abusing drugs because they are trying to fit in, they are depressed, they are bored, or they are even trying to grow up like one of the celebrities they admire. Parents should talk with their children about the dangers of drugs because facts show that “teenagers whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t” (dosomething.org).…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics