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Margaret Ilderton
UWRT 1102-009
Deby Jizi
20 April 2016
Substance Abuse
Growing up, my sister never had any confidence in herself. She always had something on
her body that she did not like. She would get made fun of at school but when she was older, that
all gave her motivation to start changing her appearance. She began working out every day and
watching what she ate until she finally lost all the weight she has always had. That still did not
give her the confidence she needed to feel okay with herself. Just last year, she came out and
confessed to my family that she has been addicted to heroin. This was a huge shock because it
was something so unexpected. She did not seem any different than she used to be growing up.
She explained a lot, not everything, but explained some of the phases she went through and
things she did to get to the point she was at in that moment. Her self-esteem levels were so low it
drove her to a point that she felt she could not stand it anymore. At first, she would take the drugs
to get away from the world and finally feel relaxed but then it just became a habit, as it would for
most people. Heroin was what was giving her the drive to go work out every single day and stay
at the gym for about at least three hours a day. She made me curious to want to find out more
about the situation, why it happens, and some ways to help prevent it from happening again or
happening to other adolescents. There are millions of, not only teens, but also adults who are
affected by substance abuse and self-esteem problems. Being able to prevent the abuse of
substances could help many teens mentally and physically.

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Researchers have been trying to figure out ways to successfully deter adolescents away
from using drugs. If any adolescent has had any sort of substance education class, they have
heard it all. The three main methods used were general drug education, then came the fear, and
next the health consequences (Botvin, Prevention). The methods are found to not have worked
effectively as they had hoped and researchers are still searching for a successful way to try and
keep adolescents away from drugs. Peer pressure is a huge factor. Many adolescents fall victim
to some sort of peer pressure. It is believed there is an unwritten social hierarchy in some
schools. The most influential are on top and the ones that follow are all below. Most adolescents
do not realize the actual risks of drugs when they try them. They do not believe that they could
actually become addicted to such drug and they would do it a couple of times then quit. They
will continue to think like that until the day comes that they actually want to quit and do not want
to use that substance anymore (Botvin, Prevention). There is a cycle that majority of users go
through before beginning the hard drugs. It was said, first the initial use of tobacco or alcohol,
then adolescents move on to trying marijuana and this might be the last stage that some
adolescents reach while others move on to drugs such as depressants, stimulates, or psychedelics
(Botvin, Prevention).
According to Steve Sussman, substance use, misuse, and dependence are among the
most prevalent causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality in the United States. I know for my
sister, one of the most commons thoughts in her head when she heard about adolescents dying
from substance abuse was, Oh, it cant happen to me. Even for me, if I am speeding or
something that could get me in trouble, that is one of my most common thoughts, that it will not
happen to me. But to prove I am wrong, just last year in January, I got a speeding ticket while
driving on the highway. And everyone, adolescents and adults, need to realize that it can, it can

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happen to any one of us. We all are at risk to falling victim to substance abuse. My sister
definitely did not think she would be the one to get addicted to heroin but she did and she
realized she had a problem so she sought out for help. In 2004, the proportions for 8th, 10th,
and 12th graders who reported that they had used an illicit drug in the prior 12 months were
15%, 31%, and 39%, respectively, and these data have not varied by more than 2% since then
(Sussman). Saying that, five percent of those adolescents could get tested and diagnosed with a
psychological disorder of substance abuse disorder. There are very many factors that come into
play when a student becomes addicted to substances or even when they keep away from that.
Some of these include: beliefs and morals, sensitivity to anxiety and sensation, physiological
susceptibility, family history with abuse, peer pressure or peer substance use, and environmental
situation such as area of living and if you are near a drug distribution (Sussman).
The social support system in an adolescents life is so unbelievably important. They are
more susceptible to using drugs if they have a bad home life, a parent is absent, no friends at
school, bad influential friends, etc. (Richter). These are all major factors and things that drive
adolescents to drug use. For my sister, we had/have a great home life. We grew up in a nice, big
neighborhood so we had plenty of friends to play with, held neighborhood parties, etc. When she
moved high schools, she still not only had that bad self-esteem but she also found the wrong
crowd. In the beginning, everything was fine, she would attend school and get good grades but
that all started changing as she went into junior year and got older. She began missing school
every single day, all day. When she came forward to us last year, she explained that the girls she
was with during these times had gotten her started in her habits. This is a prime example of how
peer pressure has a huge influence on the things we do in our everyday lives. That being said, an
article written by Gilbert J. Botvin, titled Preventing Drug Abuse in Schools, describes several

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social factors and also describes several researches that have been done in social scenes for drug
use prevention and to see the impacts of the prevention. The three major components of social
influence approaches are psychological inoculation, normative education, and resistance skills
training (Botvin, Preventing).
Abusing drugs is bad for everyone no matter the age, but adolescents are still developing
not only their bodies, but also their minds (Brown). They are hindering the development by
abusing these drugs and are not realizing the consequences or let alone what the drugs are
actually doing to them at the moment. There are three domains that effect the adolescent and
their growth. The adolescent, which is themselves, their morals, their choices, and their behavior.
Family, which is the social impact that has been mentioned, the parents behaviors, and the
parents choices. The last is the community, what school the child attends, the friends they grow
up around, and the safeness or the people in the community. (Brown).
I have learned a lot about the ways to prevent substance abuse throughout this process.
Hopefully one day the people around me and others will soon start to take the prevention of
substance seriously and try to help all the helpless adolescents from starting the habit or stopping
it. My sister has since been in rehab and is on the path to good health again but I know there will
always be that bad self-esteem in the back of her mind but with some of these methods, people
could maybe help just quiet the bad vibes in her head and in others as well. From how she talks
now, she seems to be finding herself again and finding her values while enjoying life sober. She
has gained some lifelong friendships which is always good and these people understand what she
has been through because they have been through the process themselves. I remain curious about
peoples opinions on drug users. I want to know what their thoughts are on about people who

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have become clean or what they think of the person afterwards. It is a big step for people to take
to quit using substances and it takes a lot of courage and support to start the journey.

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Works Cited
Botvin, GJ. "Preventing Drug Abuse in Schools: Social and Competence Enhancement
Approaches Targeting Individual-Level Etiologic Factors." Addictive Behaviors. 25.6
(2000). Print.
Botvin, Gilbert J. Prevention of Adolescent Substance Abuse through the Development of
Personal and Social Competence. Preventing Adolscent Drug Abuse: Intervention
Strategies, 47. DHHS Publication, 1985. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
Brown, RT. "Risk Factors for Substance Abuse in Adolescents." Pediatric Clinics of North
America. 49.2 (2002): 247-55. Print
Richter, SS, SA Brown, and MA Mott. "The Impact of Social Support and Self-Esteem on
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Outcome." Journal of Substance Abuse. 3.4
(1991): 371-85. Print.
Sussman, Steve, Silvana Skara, and Susan L. Ames. Substance Abuse Among Adolescents.
Substance Use & Misuses 43.12/13 (2008): 1802-1828. SPORTDiscus with Full Text.
Web. 8 Apr. 2016.