Teens face a unique set of difficulties when it comes to avoiding the pitfalls of addiction. These difficulties include their home environments, peer pressure in their social circles, social media platforms, and the digital landscape. Nevertheless, addiction in teens is a serious problem and, thus, requires a serious solution. Before curating and implementing an effective recovery plan, it is first important to understand why teens do drugs in the first place, and what factors can influence addiction in teens.
Understanding Addiction in Teens
Alcohol and substance use in teens is more prevalent than many people may realize. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “15% of high school students reported having ever used select illicit or injection drugs (i.e., cocaine, inhalants, heroin, methamphetamines, hallucinogens, or ecstasy).” Also, “14% of students reported misusing prescription opioids.”
Alcohol use is also a serious problem among teens. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), “19.7% of youth ages 14 to 15 reported having at least 1 drink in their lifetime.” Also, “In 2022, 5.8 million youth ages 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol beyond ‘just a few sips’ in the past month.” All of these statistics also represent the potential for addiction in teens.
Why Do Teens Do Drugs?
The question is often asked, “Why do teens do drugs? Truthfully, there are many reasons teens may choose to try drugs. There is no specific guaranteed reason that means a teen will experiment with illicit substances. It could be caused by trauma, peer pressure, family influences, and even mental health. These causes can come from many different environments and affect anyone.
They can happen at school, they can happen in broader social circles, and they can now happen on digital platforms. However, one of the most significant environments that can lead to addiction in teens is their home environment.
Risk Factors for Addiction in the Family
Addiction is not just a “disease,” but it is also a “family disease.” According to Social Work in Public Health, “The family remains the primary source of attachment, nurturing, and socialization for humans in our current society… Each family and each family member is uniquely affected by the individual using substances, including but not limited to having unmet developmental needs, impaired attachment, economic hardship, legal problems, emotional distress, and sometimes violence being perpetrated against him or her. For children, there is also an increased risk of developing an SUD themselves.”
Of course, the home is not the only environment where teens may run into alcohol and substance use. They must also navigate peer pressure often felt in school, with friend groups, and broader social circles.
Daily Environmental Addiction Pressures
Teens tend to be more impressionable than adults. They just happen to have less life experience, and some parts of their brain that assess risk are not fully developed yet (this usually takes place in one’s mid-to-late twenties).
School can be a highly prevalent place for alcohol and substance use. For many teens, this presence of alcohol and substances, along with peer pressure, can be a dangerous combination.
According to The Prevention Researcher, “[C]ertain conditions may be ripe for risk-taking by teenagers. These include situations in which a teenager is experiencing high emotion, in the presence of intense peer pressure, and faced with a perception that a short-term reward or positive outcome will be obtained. In these situations, the still-maturing ‘brake’ circuitry in the front part of the brain may be particularly overwhelmed by the ‘accelerator’ region, compromising the ability to make thoughtful decisions.” Teens can feel similar pressures on social media platforms and the broader digital landscape.
Addiction Pressure Felt Online
Teens spend much of their time on their devices and online. As stated in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, “Adolescents in many places around the world now spend more time on their digital devices than they do in traditional classrooms. For example, in the United States, teens spend, on average, nearly 7.5 hours each day with digital entertainment media alone, a count that excludes the time spent online for educational tasks.”
This amount of time spent online exposes teens to many advertisers that are promoting alcohol and substance use (especially marijuana). It also exposes them to many “online influencers” that promote toxic lifestyles that include the use of alcohol and substances. Such promotion can lead to curiosity, which can lead to experimentation, which, ultimately, can lead to addiction.
Helping Addiction in Teens at The Phoenix Recovery Center
Everyone has the right to recover and be seen as individuals, and this is no different for teens. Here at The Phoenix Recovery Center, we understand the unique set of circumstances that teens with addiction looking to recover often face. This is why we cater all our recovery plans to the individual, including our teen clients.
Recovery is about the journey, never the destination. For teens, that journey is just beginning and doesn’t deserve to be knocked off course by addiction. At The Phoenix Recovery Center, we can get everything back on course and headed toward the bright future that all teens deserve.
Teens face many distinct situations regarding alcohol and substance use. They may have to navigate drinking and using it at home, at school, and on social media platforms. When there is no healthy outlet or proper education, these situations can lead to experimentation, self-medication, and, ultimately, addiction struggles. If you feel like you or a loved one are struggling with issues of addiction, mental illness, or co-occurring disorders, we can help get you on the right road to long-term recovery right away. For more information regarding teens, addiction, and the means, methods, and modalities to help one recover, please reach out to The Phoenix Recovery Center today at (801) 438-3185.
