If those friends are older, teens can find themselves in situations that are riskier than they’re used to. For example, they may not have adults present or younger teens may be relying on peers for transportation. So if their friends use substances, your teen might feel like they need to as well. Alcohol and nicotine or tobacco may be some of the first, easier-to-get substances for teens. Because alcohol and nicotine or tobacco are legal for adults, these can seem safer to try even though they aren’t safe for teens.

Prescription Drugs and Marijuana

If you suspect your child is self-medicating a mental health issue, a therapist or other mental health professional may be able to help. Psych Central’s article on therapy and cost-reduction options offers suggestions if a therapist isn’t in your budget. If your teen is using substances, it’s a good idea to intervene rather than assuming teen drug abuse it’s a phase they will outgrow. Although starting a conversation about drug use may feel overwhelming, it’s an essential step in helping your teen recover. The most typically used substances to be aware of are tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol. When parents are angry or when teens are frustrated, it’s best to delay the talk.

Substance Abuse Screening

Being on the lookout for drug paraphernalia and signs and symptoms of drug abuse can help adults recognize at-risk teens. Vaping is attractive to teens because e-cigarettes are often flavored like fruit, candy, or mint. These products may contain nicotine or other synthetic substances that damage the brain and lungs. The teenage brain is vulnerable to the harmful effects of nicotine, including anxiety and addiction. Despite a downward trend in teenage substance use, peer pressure, curiosity, and even simple boredom play a role in how children start experimenting. Moreover, aggressive marketing strategies by companies promoting vaping and alcohol use, social media influencers, and new or different flavors further exacerbate the challenge of keeping teenagers substance-free.

Consequences of teen drug abuse

• Some parents become “passive pushers” by leaving around the house addictive prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin, making them easily available to their children.
• Teens who are religiously involved and who have frequent family dinners are at much lower risk of using and abusing substances.
• The use of club drugs like ecstasy, inhalants, and hallucinogenic substances like LSD is also on a downward cycle among teens.
• If the discussion escalates to a point of unproductive conflict or heightened emotions, it’s acceptable to pause the conversation.

For some adolescents, however, trying a substance like alcohol, marijuana, or illicit drugs leads to regular use. Once withdrawal and cravings set in, a teen dealing with addiction and dependence may not be able to stop using a substance, even if they want to. These pessimistic and naïve parents should not accept drug-infested schools as inevitable, any more than they would tolerate asbestos-infested schools as an acceptable risk for their children.

Perhaps the most important single thing you can do as a parent is to take a genuine interest in what is going on in your child’s life. You do not have to know every detail, or micromanage them, but support their positive activities and spend time with them, even if it is while doing ordinary things like preparing dinner. In fact, you can download age-appropriate guidelines for precisely this task.

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• A modified version of the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985) was used to assess the participant’s perceptions of close relationships.
• Feelings of shame, disappointment, frustration, and even anger are common in parents who discover that a child is addicted to drugs or alcohol.
• “All that you really need to know how to do is to be caring, to be loving and to be able to connect with kids and engage with them. That’s as simple as it is.”
• Even more importantly, a nonjudgmental approach will help parents learn more about their children, discover their hopes and fears for the future, and possibly find ways to establish stronger bonds with their kids.
• If something is really bothering them, eventually they will tell you – at least if they feel that you are available to listen uncritically.

At This Camp, Children Of Opioid Addicts Learn To Cope And Laugh

The feature of friendships that was most predictive of substance use was the close friend’s substance use. Friend’s substance use was significantly correlated with all indices of frequency and problematic use of substances. Moreover, it was a significant predictor in all regressions predicting concurrent levels of substance use, with the exception of hard drug use. Longitudinal analyses revealed that friend’s substance use was predictive of the increases in alcohol and tobacco use, and negative outcomes of use. Thus, friend’s substance use is both a robust proximal correlate and a predictor of subsequent substance use.

But young people are very unlikely to seek help, even if those activities cause them distress, Murphy said. For that reason, brief interventions that leverage motivational interviewing and can be delivered in a school, work, or medical setting can make a big difference. The intervention can be customized to the needs of a given community (in one trial, drag racing outstripped substance use as the most problematic thrill-seeking behavior).

What to do if your child is using drugs