Contemporary issue teenagers face today.
Introduction
This is a volatile time, and there are several issues facing teens today that the previous generations did not deal with. Technological advancements and the rise of social media have contributed to a change in the manner in which young people interact with one another, learn and receive information. Contemporary issue teenagers face today.
Underage use of illegal drugs and drinking remains a problem for teens today. The paper addresses adolescent substance use as a contemporary issue teenagers face today and its impact of o adolescent overall well-being and behavior
Adolescent substance use and external factors associated with the issue
Adolescent substance use is a public health crisis in the United States and across the globe. The most common substances that adolescents use include marijuana, nicotine, alcohol, and cigarettes. Adolescents who use these substances are at higher risk of negative mental health, educational and psychosocial outcomes. Kingston et al. 2017). The use of substances among adolescents and teens is a result of numerous psychological factors. According to Kingston et al. (2017), external stressors associated with adolescent substance use include low academic achievement, low self-esteem, monitoring, family problems, and close friends’ approval of use. Adolescents’ decision to use drugs or alcohol happens impulsively when the substance is availed to them and they use the substances in order to fit in with people/ friends who offer them substances. Contemporary issue teenagers face today.
When a clinician encounters an adolescent known to have or suspected of a substance use problem, it is crucial to integrate the process of assessment with treatment decisions. The initial stage entails efficiently identifying substance use and related problems/ stressors, psychiatric comorbidity, along psychosocial maladjustment. This is achievable by the utilization of screening instruments as a brief initial step for the evaluation of the use of drugs before moving, if need be, to the second step of comprehensively assessing the problem severity after it has been established that the adolescent might meet the criteria for a substance use disorder(Bivin & Riaz, 2017).Contemporary issue teenagers face today.
Order this paper