Anotated Bibliography

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EDITORIAL

Adolescence is “the period of life that starts with the biolog- ical, hormonal and physical changes of puberty and ends at the age at which an individual attains a stable, independent role in society.” (Balocchini, Chiamenti, & Lamborghini, 2013, p. 191). During adolescence one is vulnerable to engaging in a lot of risky behaviors. Substance abuse is one such set of behaviors. According to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey in United States, 44.7% of high school students had ever smoked cigarettes; 18.1% of students reported current cigarette use; 7.7% of students reported current smokeless tobacco use (e.g., chew- ing tobacco, snuff, or dip); 23.4% of students reported current tobacco use which included cigarette use, smokeless tobacco use, or cigar use; 70.8% of students had ever drunk alcohol; 38.7% reported current alcohol use; 21.9% of students engaged in binge drinking; 24.1% of students had ridden one or more times in a vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol; 8.2% of students had driven a vehicle one or more times when they had been drinking alcohol; 39.9% of students had ever used mar- ijuana; 23.1% of students reported current marijuana use; 6.8% of students had ever used cocaine; 3% reported current cocaine use; 11.4% had ever used inhalants; 8.2% had ever used ecstasy; 2.9% of students had ever used heroin; and 3.8% of students had ever used methamphetamines (Eaton et al., 2012). All these sta- tistics point to the growing epidemic of substance abuse among adolescents.

Several psychosocial factors have been associated with sub- stance abuse. Gopiram and Kishore (2014) conducted a study between users and non-users to identify some of these attributes.

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The study found that most of the users had initiated substance abuse during 15-18 years of age, with peer influence, curiosity and sense of growing being the chief reasons for initiation. A majority of the users were aware of the potential negative effects of substances yet they chose to start using these substances. For their continued use of substance abuse the reasons that were given included ‘feeling good’ and ability to socialize. Some of the spe- cific reasons that the users gave for maintaining their behavior were ‘getting high and escaping stress,’ ‘sense of belongingness with peer group,’ ‘feelings of grown-up and exercising autonomy.’ The non-users never started substance use because of personal values, and the awareness of the impact on health and family val- ues. Another study in Latino youth found that peer use, parental monitoring and parental emotional involvement were related to individual substance use (Zhen-Duan, & Taylor, 2014). Another study studied the relationship between low self-esteem and illegal drug abuse (Khajehdaluee, Zavar, Alidoust, & Pourandi, 2013) and found significant association between the Rosenberg self-es- teem scores and smoking, and illegal drug abuse like heroin, alco- hol, and other substances. More studies are needed that explicate the reasons for substance abuse in adolescents. Also specific the- oretical models need to be developed that provide insight into the substance abuse problem of adolescents.

A Cochrane review evaluated the effectiveness of brief school- based interventions on reducing substance use among adolescents (Carney, Myers, Louw, & Okwundu, 2014). The review found these brief interventions to be effective to some extent. Several treatment options have been evaluated for treating adolescents with a substance abuse problem. One such intervention has used cognitive behavioral therapy (Esposito-Smythers, Spirito, Kahler, Hunt, & Monti, 2011). The authors tested a cognitive-behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents with a co-occurring alcohol or other drug use disorder and suicidality in a randomized clinical trial. It was found that cognitive behavioral therapy for adoles- cents with co-occurring substance abuse and suicidality was asso- ciated with significant improvement in substance use and suicidal behavior, as well as significantly decreased the use of additional health services including inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency department visits. This intervention supports the notion that theory-based approaches are effective in treating substance abuse problems among adolescents. More research is

EDITORIAL: SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN ADOLESCENTS

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needed that develops and tests theory-based substance abuse pre- vention and treatment interventions.

Manoj Sharma, MBBS, MCHES, Ph.D., FAAHB Editor, Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education Professor, Behavorial Health Promotion & Education School of Health Sciences, College of Public Service Jackson State University 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Dr. Jackson, MS 39213 Phone: (601) 979-8850 Fax: (601) 979-8848 email: [email protected]

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REFERENCES

Balocchini, E., Chiamenti, G., & Lamborghini, A. (2013). Adolescents: Which risks for their life and health? Journal of Preventive Medicine & Hygiene, 54(4), 191-194.

Carney, T., Myers, B. J., Louw, J., & Okwundu, C. I. (2014). Brief school-based interventions and behavioural outcomes for substance-using adolescents. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2, CD008969. doi: 10.1002/14651858. CD008969.pub2.

Eaton, D. K., Kann, L., Kinchen, S., Shanklin, S., Flint, K. H., Hawkins, J., … Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2012). Youth risk behavior surveillance - United States, 2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summaries, 61(4), 1-162.

Esposito-Smythers, C., Spirito, A., Kahler, C.W., Hunt, J., & Monti, P. (2011). Treatment of co-occurring substance abuse and suicidality among adolescents: A randomized trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(6), 728- 739. doi: 10.1037/a0026074.

Gopiram, P., & Kishore, M. T. (2014). Psychosocial attri- butes of substance abuse among adolescents and young adults: A comparative study of users and non-users. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 36(1), 58-61. doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.127252

Khajehdaluee, M., Zavar, A., Alidoust, M., & Pourandi, R. (2013). The relation of self-esteem and illegal drug usage in high school students. Iran Red Crescent Medical Journal, 15(11), e7682. doi: 10.5812/ircmj.7682.

Zhen-Duan, J., & Taylor, M. J. (2014). The use of an ecodevel- opmental approach to examining substance use among rural and urban Latino/a Youth: Peer, parental, and school influ- ences. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 13(2), 104- 125. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2013.873006.

EDITORIAL: SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN ADOLESCENTS

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