adolecent drug use
As adolescent mature, they encounter variety of problems that are foreign to them. Whether these dilemmas can be resolved depend greatly on individuals' mental state, such as the ability to think and reason. A major concern in adolescent psychology is ways adolescent response to drug use. In past and present society, drugs are known to be a common way of dealing with such problems. While drugs are mostly used to cope with everyday situations, a major part of adolescents' initiation to drugs is based on curiosity. To this extent, Huba and Bentler (1980), Kovach and Glickman (1986) conducted different experiments to explore the determinants of adolescent drug use. Huba and Bentler (1980) conducted two questionnaires, which were completed by 1634 students ranging from seventh to ninth grade in the greater area of metropolitan Los Angeles. The objective of these surveys is to determine the difference between peer and adult influences on the initiation of adolescent drug usage. In the first survey, they selected four dependent variables (beer and wine, liquor, marijuana, and pills such as tranquilizer and hallucinogens) and the consumption frequency of each substance used was recorded. Individual responses were then coded in
Similar to Huba and Bentler, Kovach and Glickman (1986) performed a more in depth interview with high school students in Philadelphia to evaluate the relationship between psychosocial factors and adolescent drug use. They interviewed 480 students from two high schools, where the population diversity and economic status were in contrast with each other. Students were classified as either a drug user (who consume illicit drugs in the past year) or a non-user (who did not consume drug or alcohol in the past year). Questions such as race, religion, medical/legal history, and parental martial status were the topics of the interview. Students also completed a questionnaire which consisted of seven standard psychological scales including "Reason for Using Drug and Alcohol Checklist" (kirk, 1979), and the "Brief Symptom Inventory" (DeRogatis, 1977). After these surveys have been completed, the scores were then converted into a scale called "The Drug Severity Index", which measure the severity of drug abuse by each participant. After examining the result, one theme became apparent in the research. After their research findings, it is important to recognize the significance of both peer and family influences on an adolescent, whereas positive relationship can greatly reduce the initiation and degree of drug use in adolescents. But we cannot ignore other factors such as school, personality and adolescents' behavior. These variables will either directly or indirectly affect the adolescents' emotional state, which leads the adolescent into drug abuse if not t
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Approximate Word count = 1056
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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