The reason some adolescents try or experiment with substances and are able to walk away, while others become addicted or begin routine use is not a perfect cause and effect relationship. There are many theories as to the etiology of addiction. Abusers are different than the occasional experimenters (Berk, 2008). There are biological and environmental differences that likely influence the addiction process.
World of Youth
Youth related news articles from across the world.
Mar 15 2010 - 8:52pm
Research in the last decade has given us some dramatic new insight into the development of the brain. We have learned that brain size stabilizes at about age 12, but development and “neural pathways” continue to develop until about age 25. So, a 13-year-old is about halfway through brain development. Kids are not always able to tell you what is going on in their thoughts. We know that on the outside teens are growing rapidly and we see the changes that are huge in brief periods of time.
Mar 15 2010 - 8:50pm
Adolescents use music in many ways. It helps relieve loneliness, tension and boredom. It uplifts their mood when they feel depressed. It can have an effect on their behavior. And, it can distract them from a real or imagined problem they are facing. One study showed that on a given day, 85 percent of youngsters listen to music. About a third of them listen to music while they are engaged in other tasks, including doing their homework.
Mar 10 2010 - 9:01am
"This study provides evidence that the developing adolescent brain is susceptible to the actions of nicotine and that the effects of that early exposure can result in changes that can be seen in adulthood," said Dr Jim Diaz-Granados. Perhaps the most interesting finding is the group that was exposed to nicotine and alcohol during adolescence did not show the same effect as the nicotine-only group. This suggests that there is an interaction between the actions of the two drugs during this...
Mar 10 2010 - 8:55am
One source of this powerful stereotype is exaggeration in books and movies, and descriptions of troubled adolescents. It’s as if we have taken the profile of dysfunctional adolescence and turned it into the norm. This causes problems in both directions - ordinary kids feel pressure to be far out, and kids who really do have troubles may slide under the radar and go without help, because their problems are dismissed as ‘just teenage stuff.’
Mar 10 2010 - 8:53am
"The connection between drug use and mental health is definitely there," he says. "For instance, data shows that kids who have had episodes of depression in the past year are twice as likely to be substance abusers as kids who are not. But you have to be careful about saying that one causes the other."
Feb 28 2010 - 11:25pm
Everyone has an internal clock that influences body temperature, sleep cycles, appetite and hormonal changes. The biological and psychological processes that follow the cycle of this 24-hour internal clock are called circadian rhythms. Before adolescence, these circadian rhythms direct most children to naturally fall asleep around 8 or 9 p.m. But puberty changes a teen's internal clock, delaying the time he or she starts feeling sleepy — often until 11 p.m. or later.
Feb 26 2010 - 11:48am
"Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. They also are less likely to be affiliated than their parents' and grandparents' generations were when they were young. Fully one-in-four members of the Millennial generation -- so called because they were born after 1980 and began to come of age around the year 2000 -- are unaffiliated with any particular faith. Indeed, Millennials are significantly more unaffiliated than Generation Xers were at a comparable point...
Feb 22 2010 - 4:42pm
New research, 'Characteristics and co-occurrence of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal behaviours in pediatric emergency crisis services,' is the subject of a report. "During the potentially tumultuous adolescent period, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts are relatively common, particularly amongst youth who present to mental health services. These phenomena frequently co-occur but their relationship is unclear," scientists writing in the Journal of Youth and Adol
Feb 22 2010 - 4:37pm
Steinberg says that over the past 10 years there has been a great deal of new research on adolescent brain development that he believes sheds light on why kids engage in risky and dangerous behavior, and why the educational programs or interventions that have been developed have not been especially effective. According to Steinberg, heightened risk taking in adolescence is the result of competition between two very different brain systems, the socioemotional and cognitive-control networks, that
