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Alcohol Drug Abuse: Causes and Consequences

Author: SEM Contributor

Many children manifest behaviors that are both a cause and result of their lack of success in school, and possible subsequent dropping out. Two such behavior patterns that can sabotage the future of students- and Drug (and alcohol) abuse which this piece looks into.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

It is important to note that “use” and “abuse” of drugs and alcohol cannot always be viewed as synonymous. One may use drug and alcohol but may not necessarily lead to, abuse. Determining quantity or even frequency of use alone cannot adequately measure this distinction. More useful criteria may include age of onset, physiological responses, levels of dependence, attitudes about substance use, and its effects on other areas of functioning.

Substance use and abuse may have different adverse effect and may require different prevention strategies. Further, they often occur along with other problem behaviors that should also be targeted for attention. Below are some of the causes that lead to the use and abuse of drugs.

Family Factors: Parental drug use is correlated with initiation of use of many substances as is parental use of alcohol and other legal drugs. The role of environmental and genetic influences on substance use is difficult to assess, although it is possible that genetic factors contribute more to abuse than to use of drugs according extensive research done on the issue.

Family risk factors include parental absence, inconsistent discipline, hypocritical morality, poor communication, parental conflicts, and family breakup. However, it has been found out that family disruption per se may not directly lead to drug use; rather, family problems may lead to bitterness with traditional values and the development of deviant attitudes, which may in turn lay the foundation for substance use.

Early Antisocial Behavior: In the book Jessor and Jessor (1978) it is explained that drug use as one outcome of “proneness to problem behavior” and as part of a larger syndrome of deviance in which a wide range of “problem behavior” shared common precipitants.

School Factors: A range of school problems–reflected in failure, poor performance, truancy, placement in a special class, early dropping out, and a lack of commitment to education–have been viewed as common antecedents to initiation, use, and abuse of drugs (Jessor & Jessor, 1978).

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Personality Traits: Attitudes, beliefs, and personality traits most closely linked with substance use include attenuated attachment to parents, lack of commitment to education, low religiosity, and alienation from dominant societal norms and values.Â

Substance Use as a Response to Stress: Newcomb & Harlow (1986) in their book studied substance abuse in adolescents as a response to a perceived loss of control, a sense of meaninglessness, and a lack of direction in life. Teenagers may use drugs as a means of temporarily alleviating discomfort connected to life events which they perceive as being out of their control, and can be seen as contributing significantly to an understanding of the higher incidence of drug use among low SES teenagers and those from disrupted families (Newcomb & Bentler, 1989).

CONSEQUENCES

Health: drug and alcohol abuse too often leads to making girls under 16 five times vulnerable to many other abuses due to the fact they normally turn out not being their very self and susceptible loose moral conduct, sex spree that lead to consequences having bearing with teenage pregnancy, STDs, HIV/Aids and many more health hazards.

Education: More than one fifth of all girls who drop out of school do so because they are pregnant. No more than 50 percent of teenage parents eventually graduate from high school.

Employment: Teen parents are also more likely to have difficulties getting appropriately paying jobs. More than one half of the money invested in Aid to Families with Dependent Children goes to families with a mother who first gave birth when she was a teenager (Black & DeBlassie, 1985).

Recently, public attention has been focused on the need to teach disadvantaged children more successfully. However, it is also necessary for schools–and for families, and society in general–to help these children refrain from engaging in problem behaviors, both those discussed above and the other destructive activities.

Such intervention, difficult and controversial though it is, can be the crucial first step in an education reform program that truly meets the needs of at-risk students.

By Zainab Tunkara

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