Additional research has begun to explore the effects of child neglect on adolescent brain development. Because children in adolescence are undergoing developmental changes, neglect during this period can have long-term effects [41]. It is difficult to study the ramifications of neglect on the brain because of the existence of other contributing factors, such as domestic violence, socioeconomic status, and prenatal exposure to substances [39]. A legal definition of gangs is a group of three or more people that is characterized by criminal behavior [61].
- The odds of adolescents using illicit substances more frequently when negative evaluation was at the lowest level were 5.3 times than when negative evaluation was at level 2.
- As new trends emerge, risk factors leading to substance use and substance use disorders must be continuously assessed in order to design and enact effective prevention and intervention programs.
- The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations.
- However, generally speaking, gender differences with regard to substance use vary widely across the literature.
Because the brain undergoes considerable development during adolescence, this period is a time of increased vulnerability to stress and risk-seeking behaviors [13–15]. Stressful circumstances, including familial or social tensions and maltreatment, that teen drug abuse occur during critical periods can cause increased reactivity to addictive drugs and thus heighten the potential for a substance use disorder to occur [16, 17]. The parent–children relationship seems to have a key role in risky behaviors among youth.
1. Cognitive Development
Drug-related substances in this context refer to narcotics, opioids, psychoactive substances, amphetamines, cannabis, ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, hallucinogens, depressants, and stimulants. The two most commonly abused substances not included in this review are nicotine (tobacco) and alcohol. Further, “adolescence” in this study refers to members of the population aged between 10 to 18 years [21].
The National Institutes of Health define bullying as a series of interactions whereby a group or individual verbally or physically assaults a victim who is perceived to be weaker [56]. All adolescents who participate in bullying, whether they are the perpetrator, the victim, or a combination of both roles, have been shown to have increased risk of mental health disorders and psychosocial problems when compared with those who do not participate [57, 58]. Some research shows that females are more likely to be bullied via verbal attacks and gossip than males, who are usually physically bullied [57]. Males also participate in all roles of bullying at a higher level than females [57, 59]. This addictive characteristic of dopamine in combination with its increased role in the development of the brain makes adolescence a critical period in developing the reinforcing behavior of substance use [15].
DOMAIN: individual factor
“Among adolescents from non-alcoholic families,” Livingston says, “those who used substances were less able to control their behavior and regulate their emotions in early childhood compared with those who were not substance users. “Parent characteristics and family relationships were important influences on the substance use of children from alcoholic families,” says Livingston. (3) Community interventions aim to promote social awareness through antidrug and anti-crime campaigns, especially on new drugs, drug selling websites on the dark web, legal consequences, and life in prisons. These interventions can use social media and social networks to diffuse a good policy on the topic and prevent from drug-addiction and juvenile justice involvement. It could be useful to establish a national and an international policy of intervention based on scientific divulgation of the main research findings to create best practices for schools and families in high-risk areas.
- Adjusted odds ratios with p-values and 95% confidence intervals were obtained to compare the influence of the family characteristics.
- Within the individual factor domain, nine articles were found to contribute to the subdomain of personal/ individual traits [27–29, 37–40, 43, 44].
- It has also been found that witnessing violence can increase an adolescent’s risk for developing a substance use disorder with alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or hard drugs by as much as two to three times [33, 35, 40].
- Participants were sourced from rehabilitation centres in Pretoria, namely Staanvaas and Castle Carey Clinic, between September 2014 and June 2015, and were contacted upon ethical approval of the study.
- Localized studies, especially related to demographic factors, may be more effective in generating results that are specific to particular areas and thus may be more useful in generating and assessing local prevention and intervention efforts.
- It’s up to parents to initiate a conversation with their children if they suspect drug use.
“This could include interventions to improve communication, positive parenting skills and conflict resolution,” she says. The research team studied New York State birth records from 227 families when their children were 12 months old. Half of the families had at least one parent — usually the father — with an alcohol problem. Livingston and colleagues then followed up with these families when the same children were between 15 and 17 years old. The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations.
Types of Substances Abused by Teenagers
The study of risk and protective family management risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use is projected to support evidence based treatment and intervention programmes by policy makers. Treatment and intervention programmes and studies should account for the patterns of risk elements in different cultures and social groups in society [11, 13]. Such programmes can be founded based on the social development model, which is a theory of causation and prevention, and an important prerequisite to an intervention strategy seeking to mitigate risk factors, while at the same time enhancing protective factors [5]. Protective factors buffer adolescents from exposure to risks and reduce the likelihood of acquiring such behaviours [5, 13]. Familial, social, and individual risk factors will be addressed, and the way in which brain development may connect these factors to the outcome of substance use will be discussed. Risk factors categorized as familial include childhood maltreatment (abuse and neglect), familial substance abuse, and parent-child relationships.
Social risk factors include association with deviant peers, popularity, bullying, and gang affiliation. These categories of risk factors (familial, social, and individual) are defined here for the purposes of this paper, but categorization of risk factors varies between researchers depending on the focus of the discipline. The main findings of this review suggest that adolescents whose parents are involved in illegal behavior and the use of drugs are more likely to be involved in delinquency and substance abuse conduct. Furthermore, the perception of lacking family support, negative climate, and communication and of having justice-involved parents might contribute to the development of risky trajectories among young people. Moreover, there is a connection between criminal activities and substance abuse, which can lead to a future criminal career and addiction in later adolescence and adulthood.
This interaction creates a complex system of risk factors that predicts adolescent substance use, which is important to take into consideration. While kids and teens often experiment with drugs in a social setting, there are factors that can make certain individuals more likely to abuse drugs. A teen may try a drug because her friends are doing it, but her use may spiral out of control due to depression, anxiety or other life circumstances.
- To date, evidence that concretely links maltreatment and substance abuse remains limited.
- The findings from our review showed that individual factors were the most commonly highlighted.
- The effect of parental rewards on adolescent alcohol use was assessed controlling for ethnicity.
- Some of the risk factors are the presence of early mental and behavioral health problems, peer pressure, poorly equipped schools, poverty, poor parental supervision and relationships, a poor family structure, a lack of opportunities, isolation, gender, and accessibility to drugs [9].
- Finally, another model based on the behavioral and systemic approach is the functional family therapy (FFT).
- The odds of higher frequency of using cannabis when emotional support was at lowest level were 3.7 times more than those when emotional support was at level 2.
It has also been found that witnessing violence can increase an adolescent’s risk for developing a substance use disorder with alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or hard drugs by as much as two to three times [33, 35, 40]. This is likely because witnessing violence creates great stress, especially in the case of a child witnessing domestic violence [33]. It has also been speculated that, in some cases, substance use may precede witnessing violence because such acts of violence may occur within the context of a delinquent peer group where substance use is prevalent [33]. However, there is comparatively little literature that focuses on emotional abuse, including witnessing violence, and its relationship to adolescent substance use and abuse [32]. According to a legal definition, emotional child abuse encompasses a situation whereby the child’s “intellectual or psychological functioning or development” is hindered [31]. It has also been found that witnessing violence can increase an adolescent’s risk for developing a substance use disorder with alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or hard drugs by as much as two to three times [33, 35, 40].