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Research Statement and Literature Review Assignment

Research Statement

Drug abuse has become one of the most witnessed problems that face teenagers in the 21st century. In the recent decades, accessing illegal drugs has continuously become an easy task for the youth, both school-going and those on the streets. It is highly alarming to witness the rate at which parents check their teenage sons and daughters to rehabilitation and counseling centers. Witnessing a continuous increase in these rates is as worrying as the imagination of even more increase in the youths abusing drugs. A string of questions arises concerning the increased drug abuse by teenagers even those who attend school. Questions on how, where and what flow concerning the abuse. It has become overly hard to know how the teenagers access the drugs, where they get them as well as with what money they buy the drugs. Another question of ‘who’ arises in trying to establish who in the society allows themselves give such young children access to drugs.

Establishing answers to the questions revolving around teenage drug abuse becomes even harder as each new day; more cases of substance abusing teenagers are witnessed. Increased complexity proves just how much work the society has in regulating drug abuse among teenagers. A closer look at the patterns of drug abuse among teenagers reveals that dealing with the problem could just be more complex than one could assume. Many of the victims of substance abuse know quite well that it is illegal and tend to be very good at keeping their practices hidden from their parents and teachers. A greater challenge is therefore presented of establishing the actual number of teenagers who engage in drug abuse. From a factual point of view, however, it is impossible to establish the actual number and in the process, it leaves the choice of making estimations from the available results of sampled teenagers.

In engaging in a deeper research on the issues of drug abuse by teenagers, it is possible to establish answers to some of the questions revolving around the problem. However, a more important question of focus presents itself on how to reduce the habit of drug abuse among teenagers. Focusing on answering the question on how to best deal with the problem gives a chance to come up with possible ways to reduce if not end the behavior (Simkin, Thatcher, & Lubar, 2014). Answering the question also makes one concentrate on solutions other than presenting findings which do not make any change in the current situation. The question, therefore, enables a result oriented research which leads one to a higher possibility of coming to a conclusion of the best as well as a most effective choice of solutions. The most suitable research statement would then be ‘how to reduce drug abuse among teenagers’. It will bring the research process to a more specific point of concentration of ways to tackle the problem and not find out how intense the problem is.

Literature Review

In the past number of years, many nations have renewed the concerns on drug and substance abuse. Many sources claim that although drug abuse by teenagers might be viewed as a personal behavior, it is deeply rooted in a Sociocultural setting that strongly dictates its character. The greatest focus needs to revolve around psychoactive substances that are used both legally and illegally. It is highly important to draw differences between the abuse and use of drugs (Black, 2014). A multidimensional approach is needed to enable a look at the aspects of the drug, abusers, the response they demonstrate and the consequences of abuse. Some of the most important aspects in curbing teenage drug abuse include the existing drug use extent and patterns, the different causes of use, means of preventing substance use, possible ways of treatments or intervention on users. These considerations give a starting point to the process of dealing with teenage substance abuse. However, it is equally important to review the possible consequences of teenage drug abuse.

In trying to establish the ways to bring teenage substance abuse to an end, it is a starting point knowing the possible consequences of drug use. With knowledge of the consequences, it becomes easier to identify a teenager who engages in drug use (Maslowsky, O’Malley & Kloska, 2014). When it is possible to identify the teenagers involved in drug abuse, the process of establishing solutions would be made easier than engaging in a trial and error method. With a more solid ground to base the research on, it is quite more possible to come up with a set of solutions that would bring forth the answers to the presented questions. Knowing the consequences of drug abuse, therefore, would provide an advantage of information to the researchers enabling them to identify the teenagers who they should focus on.

There have existed a number of established causes of drug abuse among teenagers. Bad parenting and failure to parent children are established as a factor that allows teenagers to access and use drugs. Conditions of economic deprivation also contribute to increased numbers of drug using teenagers (Simkin, Thatcher, & Lubar, 2014). Poverty, poor housing among other socioeconomic disadvantage indicators contribute in increasing the number of teenagers involved in drug use and abuse. Places with such characteristics tend to contain disorganized neighborhoods, high levels of adult crimes increased residential mobility and illegal drug trafficking allowing teenagers to access as well as use the drugs (Espelage, Low & Little, 2014). It is however not enough to focus on external factors of causality but to also focus on individual factors that lead youths to drug abuse. Curiosity, depression, peer pressure and the need for attention among other personal interests and factors lead a number of youths to drug abuse (Molina, Hinshaw, Swanson & Greenhill, 2013). It is important to know that not only external but internal factors lead children to drug abuse.

Engaging in a result and fact focused research enables the process to come up with a solution other than conclusions. It is therefore equally important to establish a focus on consequences as it is of the factors contributing to drug abuse. Consequences enable easy identification of children under drugs, while the factors contributing to drug use narrow down the population of teenagers vulnerable to drug use and abuse (Gámez-Guadix, Smith & Calvete, 2013). It is, therefore, important to focus on all the possible causes of drug abuse among teenagers to make sure that the vulnerable groups are all considered in the research process. It is also important to choose a research design wisely enough to maximize the amount of information available (Black, 2014). Observation would serve the purpose more perfectly than any other design as the information is gathered without the subjects’ knowledge which enables acquisition of all the observed information.

In solving the main question of the research, there are a number of possible ways to reduce or rather end drug use among teenagers. Encouraging good and close parenting on teenagers would serve the purpose to make sure that parents set the behavioral patterns for their children as well as closely observe them to reduce any possibilities of them engaging in drug practices (Winters, Botzet & Lalone, 2012). In environments and neighborhoods that expose children to drugs, they should be highly advised against the behavior to minimize the percentage of them who end up in the practice (Monti, Colby, & Tevyaw, 2012). Laws and regulations should be set and observed regarding people who allow teenagers to access drugs and substances for abuse to reduce the availability of drugs for teenagers to use. Immediate action should also be taken on teenagers who are realized to be on drugs as it gives the advantage of turning them before they get into the addiction stage (Bowen et al., 2014).

References

Black, D. S. (2014). Mindfulness-based interventions: an antidote to suffering in the context of substance use, misuse, and addiction. Substance use & misuse, 49(5), 487-491.

Bowen, S., Clifasefi, S. L., Grow, J., & Larimer, M. E. (2014). Relative efficacy of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, standard relapse prevention, and treatment as usual for substance use disorders: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA psychiatry, 71(5), 547-556.

Espelage, D. L., Low, S., & Little, T. D. (2014). Family violence, bullying, fighting, and substance use among adolescents: A longitudinal mediational model. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(2), 337-349.

Gámez-Guadix, M., Smith, P. K., & Calvete, E. (2013). Longitudinal and reciprocal relations of cyberbullying with depression, substance use, and problematic internet use among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(4), 446-452.

Maslowsky, J., O'Malley, P. M., & Kloska, D. D. (2014). Depressive symptoms, conduct problems, and risk for polysubstance use among adolescents: Results from US national surveys. Mental Health and Substance Use, 7(2), 157-169.

Molina, B. S., Hinshaw, S. P., Swanson, J. M., & Greenhill, L. L. (2013). Adolescent substance use in the multimodal treatment study of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)(MTA) as a function of childhood ADHD, random assignment to childhood treatments, and subsequent medication. Journal of the American Academy of Child &Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(3), 250-263.

Monti, P. M., Colby, S. M., & Tevyaw, T. A. L. (Eds.). (2012). Adolescents, alcohol, and substance abuse: Reaching teens through brief interventions. Guilford Press.

Simkin, D. R., Thatcher, R. W., & Lubar, J. (2014). Quantitative EEG and neurofeedback in children and adolescents: anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, comorbid addiction and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and brain injury. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 23(3), 427-464.

Winters, K. C., Botzet, A., Lee, S., & Lalone, B. (2012). Brief intervention for drug-abusing adolescents in a school setting: Outcomes and mediating factors. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 42(3), 279-288.