Adolescence is a time of experimentation, identity exploration, and growth. Teen brains are not fully developed, and high schoolers who use drugs are at greater risk for problem substance use, addiction, and the associated problems with mental and physical health.
Understanding why teens do drugs can help parents and caregivers know how to best support their teen. Teens who use alcohol or drugs need appropriate interventions, including teen substance use disorder treatment, to help keep the whole family safe and healthy.
Key Takeaways
- Teens use drugs for a variety of reasons, including social environment, peer relationships, genetics and family history, and underlying mental health conditions.
- Many teens experiment with substance use during adolescence; while some will stop eventually and avoid addiction, others will develop a substance use disorder.
- Substance use disorders may be prevented through preventive factors such as healthy family and peer relationships, optimism, financial stability, and resilience in the face of challenges.
- Teens who use alcohol or drugs need appropriate interventions, including teen drug use treatment, to help keep the whole family safe and healthy.
Signs of Teenage Drug Addiction
Unusual mood swings and behavior are often normal for teenagers. But if your teen begins exhibiting some of the following symptoms, they may be dealing with drug addiction and need professional support.
- Hostility or irritability
- Breaks household rules and curfews
- School attendance becomes irregular or grades slip
- Relationships with family and friends deteriorate
- A new circle of friends
- Money disappears from the house
- Interest in hobbies or sports stops
- Sleeping patterns change
These signs and symptoms aren’t solely linked to drug use. They may be indicative of other problems, such as underlying mental health issues, anger issues, or defiant behavior.
Regardless of the cause, these behaviors are warning signs that the teen is struggling and needs more support.
10 Reasons Why Young People Use Drugs
While many teens experiment with drugs at this stage of life, some may continue their substance use and be at risk for teenage addiction. Here are some of the reasons why teenagers use drugs and/or alcohol.
1. Substances in the Home Environment
If a teen sees their family members using and enjoying drugs or drinking alcohol, the teen is more likely to use substances as well. Casual or normalized use in a teen’s family can make them think drug and alcohol use is a regular part of life, especially if substances are readily available in the home.
2. Peers Who Use Drugs
A teen may feel obligated to try substances if their friends are doing it. Friends sometimes use peer pressure to try to convince each other to use substances. But sometimes the pressure comes from within. Teens may be afraid of being judged, not fitting in, or looking weak if they don’t use drugs.
3. Social Isolation
If a teen is bullied, or feels that they don’t fit in, they may struggle to form and sustain healthy friendships. Supportive peer relationships in adolescence are foundational for good self-esteem and overall health. If their friendships are toxic, they’re more likely to cope with their isolation and pain with substance use.
4. Mental Health Conditions
Untreated trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, or mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder can cause a teen to turn to substances in order to cope with their distress. They may find short-term relief from the numbing effects of drugs or alcohol. But over time, substance use makes physical and mental health worse.
5. Genetics and Family History
Countless studies have proven a genetic link in addiction and mental health. Teenagers with parents, grandparents or other relatives who had a drinking or substance use problem are more likely to develop one themselves.
6. Family Conflict
Parents who fight regularly, neglect or abuse their child, are overbearing, or don’t provide adequate support can result in young people escaping into drug and alcohol use. Some teens will take drugs to self-medicate their pain, while others will do it as an act of rebellion against the parents who are causing them stress.
7. Low Self-Esteem
Self-consciousness and self-esteem issues are common in adolescents. Teens may try to escape those distressing feelings through substance use. Or they may use drugs or alcohol as a way to fit in and feel “cool.”
8. Weight Loss
Some teens will begin taking stimulants in an effort to lose weight. This is part of the damaging pursuit of an unrealistic body type that causes millions of adolescents, especially young women, to develop eating disorders every year. In addition to stimulant use, the desire to lose weight can lead to drinking and tobacco use. All of these drugs can be addictive.
9. Academic Struggles
Kids who have high academic expectations placed on them may use cocaine or other stimulants in an effort to keep their grades from slipping.
10. Sports Injuries or Performance Goals
High school athletes may use steroids to help the perform better in games. Or they might start using prescription opioid painkillers due to a sports injury, and then become dependent on them. Because adolescents’ brains and bodies are more vulnerable to drug addiction, they’re at higher risk of becoming addicted.
Risk Factors for Teen Drug Use
Regardless of gender, economic class, and age, no one is immune to addiction. But there are risk factors that make a teenager more likely to use drugs, alcohol, and other substances.
Brain development: For one, the adolescent brain isn’t yet fully developed. The risk-taking parts of the brain are more active, while the parts that weigh possible consequences and plan ahead are still immature.
Environment: Teens who have experienced chronic stress and/or early-life trauma are more likely to use drugs to self-medicate underlying and untreated mental health issues.
Genetics: Having a family history of substance use makes an adolescent much more likely to use substances themselves.
Age: Research shows that the earlier a teen starts using drugs, the greater the likelihood that they will develop problem drug use.
Many drug use risk factors are not the result of conscious choices on the teen’s part. Instead, whether or not a teen uses or becomes addicted to drugs depends on all the biopsychosocial elements of their life. These include family history, genetics, mental health, life stressors, and other biological and environmental aspects.
What Protects Against Teen Addiction?
Certain elements of a person’s temperament, biology, and environment can help protect against substance use and addiction. These include:
- Optimism
- Healthy, supportive family relationships
- Robust friendships and peer networks
- A stable home life
- Greater ability to face and cope with difficult emotions
These factors are more likely to contribute to and improve a teen’s resilience—their capacity to deal with stressful situations and difficulties in a healthy way. Resilience is a skill that everyone can learn, and it’s been shown to reduce the risk of problem substance use in teens. Resilience can’t be learned in a vacuum, though. It requires a foundation of safety, support, and healthy relationships.
Teenage Substance Use Treatment at Newport Academy
At Newport Academy, we understand how overwhelming and scary it can feel to be the parent of a teen who may be struggling with substance use. If you’re worried about your teen using drugs and alcohol, you don’t need to figure out their treatment on your own.
Our programs address teen drug use as well as primary mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and trauma in a therapeutic environment. Our residential teen drug rehab program for adolescents includes personalized medical care, family therapy, individual therapy, group therapy, and academic programs, which allow for individualized academic focus in an environment built to support them and their needs.
Our Tailored Treatment Plans for Teen Substance Use Disorder
Newport’s tailored approach provides customized treatment plans for each teen, within a supportive community of peers who are experiencing similar challenges. Underlying mental health issues and trauma are addressed, families learn how to change harmful dynamics and form better relationships, and teens learn skills for coping with life stresses without using substances. Expert clinicians guide adolescents in a wide variety of experiential therapies, including equine, music, art, adventure, and yoga therapy.
Our program offers a wide range of options to ensure teens have what they need to succeed, no matter who they are or what they’ve experienced. Newport’s whole-person, comprehensive approach addresses each person’s physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual needs and provides experiential tools to help your teen—and your whole family—flourish.
Start the healing journey today: Contact us for a free teen health assessment.
Sources
SAGE Open Nurs. 2023 Feb 20:9:23779608231157986.
Prev Res. 2011; 18(2): 21–24.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2010 Jul; 19(3): 465–477.