Prescription Drug Use in Teenagers - Research Paper Example

 Prescription Drug Use in Teenagers Introduction The statistics support that prescription drug use in teenagers is not currently in a state of decline. The variety available to youths, including the supply chain for these medications, is contributing to this growth. Attitudes associated with prescription drug exchanges from one peer to another exemplify the problem as misconceptions about the behavior are prevalent. Differences with individual teenage coping mechanisms seem to also contribute to this problem, based on theories associated with youth relationships and the dynamics of group affiliation. This paper attempts to uncover the statistics regarding prescription drug use, identifying the impact of this behavior on lifestyle, and consider how community policy directors or parents can contribute to controlling this growing problem. Misconceptions Persist A recent research study recruited 170 women between the ages 14 to 18 taking a prescription drug referred to as Depo-Provera. Of those using this drug, all had lost bone mineral density. However, research identified that most of the young women in the study had a reversal effect and regained most or all of their bone density after discontinuing the medication (Dooren, 2005). Why is this of significance? This story was reported in the Wall Street Journal, a common national publication, describing the potential advantages that younger prescription users might have over older adolescent counterparts. Youths of this age are familiar with multiple forms of media, from social networking to tangible paper news reports in magazines and various trade journals. For youths without a practical knowledge of medicine and anatomy, this could represent a failsafe, an assurance, that youth bodies can recuperate from any negative side effects. Believing in their own resiliency would serve as a motivator for the undeveloped adolescent mind based on access to limited health information and no competent background to make diagnoses or determinations of this variety. Goldsworthy, Schwartz & Mayhorn (2008) identify that teenagers do act as physicians when attempting to assist their peers in formulating a treatment. This generally occurs when shared symptoms are recognized by the former prescription user and an exchange occurs based on comparable symptom comparisons. This would support the hypothesis that ineffective teenager analysis of medicine and the high availability of studies that support youth resiliency and recovery are contributing to a trend. The casual presentation of medicinal substances is visible on social media network sites, search engines and television advertising in a rather uncontrolled environment. Knowledge regarding medicine effects is exchanged via these networks, thus validating pre-conceived ideas in the teenager regarding the pharmacology in their choice of prescription to abuse. The Wall Street Journal (2006) again reports that one in five teens has tried Vicodin, OxyContin or similar painkillers; for the third straight year. This is based on statistics from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America study. Of those students recruited for the study, 40 percent indicated that experimentation with prescription medication was safer than illegal substances. There are misconceptions regarding prescription medication in terms of the potential risks associated with health sustainment. In general, youth attitudes favor reckless behavior more than an adult individual with experience and high emotional intelligence. Coupled with inherent non-compliant behaviors and a stern misunderstanding of the pharmacology of prescription medications, prescription medication abuse in teenagers might not necessarily be a product of dependency through escapism as is common with other drugs. “As identity takes shape, an individual becomes aware of his group affiliation and his position in society. An individual looks for his Ego and almost always finds it in some or other group” (Soldatova, 2007, p.105). Through this process of finding a sense of self, common social norms include exchange of prescription medication and story-telling periods where knowledge of different unusual body effects are discussed between peers. This sets the social precedence for ongoing peer acceptance of regular prescription drug use and therefore becomes the common thread between social acceptance and social relevance. Take for example how a teenager responds to life events when already maintaining a depressive personality. Situations such as a peer rejection, bad grade, or humiliating argument can lead to sadness, the depressed personality can experience irritability, headaches, stomach pains, lost energy and lack of appetite over these matters (Bostic & Miller, 2005). If prescription drug exchanges and the commonality of the supply chain are discussed routinely in the social environment, a teenager with confidence issues or a co-dependent need on others for validation will pose considerable risks to their social status if they admonish the activity to their group. In this type of scenario, the when in Rome concept would seem to apply that fosters the ongoing exchange of prescription pills and self-diagnoses as well as the diagnoses of their peers. Since no medical information that is suitable for their knowledge is available with a structured approach to handling relationship factors more effectively, in a media format they are exposed to, there is no need to question the social norm. In Washington D.C., children who learn about the risks of drugs from other adults in their lives are reported to be 50 percent less likely to use drugs than non-educated citizens (Levy, 2006). This is due to a personalized approach that responds to more than simply a lesson in refrain, but in attempting to use governmental representatives to express more sophisticated concepts in a language familiar where questions can be responded to in a structured, interactive forum. Depending on the proper representative, the actual physical risks of these events can be illustrated using pictorials of individuals or their anatomy after prolonged prescription drug use. Youths of this age looking for validation and self-identity will respond to such images as it makes over-resilient youths consider their mortality. “It is normal for adolescents to think about mortality and the meaning of life…not to be preoccupied with death or to seriously contemplate suicide” (Bostic & Miller, 2005, p.60). Reactions from students in their peer network would view these images and discuss them in their private social in and out groups. Linking education with a persuasive and aggressive campaign to link prescription drug abuse with self-destruction while taking into consideration social dynamics is appropriate, however this education does not seem to exist. Therefore, the key to understanding prescription drug use increases in this group should begin with a fundamental understanding of the systems driving social parameters in the teenager social group. Lakon, Hipp & Timberlake (2010) also identify the importance of social network affiliation in decision-making with teenagers. The personal network density theory identifies that the extent of relationships and affiliation determines one’s adherence to the norms and beliefs of the group. It can even, when considering teenage smoking, greatly increase the opportunities to improve the supply chain network. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (2007) identifies that nearly half of teens who use prescription drugs received them from a relative or acquaintance. Another twenty percent of these teens bought them from a relative or took them without permission from another’s prescription. Enhanced supply is created by relationship-building as elements of the interpersonal lifestyle will begin to surface with these ties. As the relationship grows more intense, household and lifestyle factors will begin to surface in routine conversation. New supply chain routes through bonded relationships feeds this problem. Youths are also exposed to multi-media sources that are non-discriminatory when it deals with supplying prescription medication and the knowledge associated with its pharmacology. Research has indicated that less than one percent of teenagers procure their medicines over the Internet, however the ability to gain self-diagnosing knowledge is created from reputable and non-reputable media sources. Teens are gaining this information in chat rooms and through other social media blogging resources (promoteprevent.org, 2010). Students receive clinical information coupled with first-hand colleague experiences in an uncontrolled data environment without the practical knowledge to recognize source credibility generally secured for university level students. Certain assumptions regarding clinical analysis of statistical and experimental data are too abstract for many teenagers, however availability of non-discriminatory information is uncontrolled. There is also a phenomenon referred to in the field of psychology as operant conditioning, which either reinforces or terminates certain behaviors based on consequences brought on by the experience. If after taking a substance the individual experiences positive sensations or gratification, the likelihood of repeating the behavior increases proportionately (Kadden, 2008). Youths that experiment with prescription drug use that are affected by the dynamics of operant conditioning will either experience their desired consequence or non-desired symptom after experimenting with medication. The law of this principle is that some teenagers would cease while others continued to reinforce the positive physical or emotional outcomes they experience in line with their pre-conceived expectations. Operant conditioning as a result of generic social experimentation would contribute to the problem if the abuser maintained a self-motivated personality profile. The Role of Community and Parents Prescription drug use effects on the body vary by different pharmacological structures. For instance, Vicodin maintains side effects that can include vomiting, drowsiness and slurred speech (clc.asu.edu, 2010). This information was posted by Arizona State University in an effort to alert parents to the warning signs of certain prescription and non-prescription drugs as part of an educational effort. However, since some of the teenagers are able to procure these drugs from family members, there is no guarantee that such efforts would be taken seriously in certain demographic or social class groups. Production and delivery of these materials would be ineffective if the parental unit or caretaker adults had similar disinterest and misconception about prescription effectiveness or risk factors. The psychological and social profiles of certain social class community ethics reject direct instruction and resist fundamental character changes. Finding a methodology to self-motivate the uninspired to adjust supplying or enabling behaviors would be more suitable for parents or caretakers actively involved in facilitating the supply network. DARE literature, though educational and geared for auditory and visual learning, acts much like the macroeconomic analyses associated with supply and demand. These educational materials tend to assume that all situations are constant, while the teaching philosophy or duration is increased and decreased with predictions behavior should follow the same trend. Hanson (2007) labels it concretely, “scientific evaluation studies have consistently shown that DARE is ineffective in reducing the use of alcohol and drugs and is sometimes even counterproductive -- worse than doing nothing” (p.1). This assessment is supported by the Surgeon General, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Academy of Sciences (Hanson). A visit to the DARE educational website has explosive graphics designed to capture the attention of the browser, with specific adult and children subsections for information exchange and education. The structure of the program would seem to have no functional relevance for the teenager in their more formative and abstract years that grow dependent on more adult scenarios with the complex social and romantic relationship. DARE, based on recommendations from federal authorities on this matter, should have a specific target market and not be considered a reliable program that can necessarily be repeated under similar conditions. Parents are exposed to media messages that describe the benefits in lifestyle that many different prescription medications can provide in similar proportion to their teenage children. The goal of marketing is to link lifestyle elements with the psychographic profile associated with certain targeted segments. For instance, if the largest potential market for a pain-reducing prescription drug were older citizens with active lifestyles, the actors utilized in the advertisement would represent these physical, emotional or lifestyle elements associated with the target market most likely to generate higher profit for the firm. This is the nature of advertising and it has similar effect on consumption behavior and demand for these products by creating connection. Therefore, the individual parent or caretaker viewing these advertisements reinforce the positive benefits by attributing reinforcement of their social beliefs regarding colleagues or peers of their same age and lifestyle demographics. Having these actors further reinforce how these drugs have positively impacted their life to explore rational self-interest or improve physical well-being fuels demand and misconception. If the market is the type to model behaviors of their peer network, such expectations might be placed on the teenager with the assumption that prescription pill consumption is an inevitability and is less harmful than what might be shown in advertisement. What can then be done about the problem at the teacher, community leader or parental level? The methodology behind program delivery must be catered in sync with the attitudes or values associated with most teenaged groups. Developing an educational curriculum that removes unrealistic expectations of physical and emotional invincibility through graphic images associated with previous prescription abusers would elicit negative reinforcement in a convincing method. Any quality program must be flexible, contain innovation, and be readapted with specific market preferences and profiles in mind. At this age, more adult-focused meaning is formed in the teenager in areas of political struggles within social groups, self-concept, confirming sexuality, and abstract reasoning in multiple spheres. Relevant content matched with known research studies on teenage social behaviors would reduce attention deficit from such anti-drug programs as DARE. Attempting to control the problem as restrictions over supply and overall availability increase is unrealistic. Changing the internal motivations to understand the risks teenagers are adopting, decoded in a method consistent with adolescent cognitive and emotional programming is vital to preventing this problem’s escalation. Assisting youths in performing a functional analysis of fundamental principles of self-identification, role, gender or other identifying mental or social functioning begins with understanding they maintain adult-focused mindsets with an emerging independence instinct. Delivery of educational materials in the form of colleagues rather than instructor versus pupil would feed this inherent need more than being isolated as requiring a very standardized and perceptually non-functional drug prevention program. Conclusion Prescription drug use by teenagers impacts their social network or is subsequently influenced by it and the dynamics that drive group affiliation at this age. Media representation, combined with a more developed supply chain and youth interventions in self- or colleague-diagnoses makes this an individual, family and community level risk. Education can reinforce the traditional deterrents associated with medication transfers, however the acceptability of the practice at the parental and peer levels would over-ride these once-trusted methods. Youths either experiment with prescription drugs and find a commonality congruent with their intention of experimenting or indulging and then will predictably replicate these behaviors since the reinforcement is significant. It would be the role of educators and parents to understand the dynamics of social relationships and the complicated emotional disturbances that can be caused by rejecting the social norm in the in group environment by taking a public stand against the practice. Even when health risks could potentially occur, the teenager and their false perceptions of immortality drive forward momentum to continue to engage in the practice. Until attitudes within the caretaker network are properly in tune with youth needs at this age, teenagers will turn to themselves and their peer network to validate preconceptions about prescription function and value. References Bostic, J. & Miller, M. (2005). “When Should You Worry?”, Newsweek. 145(17), p.60. Clc.asu.edu. (2010). “Teenage Drug Use: A Parental Guide”. Arizona State University. Retrieved November 19, 2010 from http://clc.asu.edu/files/courses/teen-drug-use.pdf. Dooren, Jennifer C. (2005). “Bone Loss Reversible for Teen Girls”, Wall Street Journal. February 8, p.D7. Goldsworthy, R., Schwartz, N. & Mayhorn, C. (2008). “Beyond Abuse and Exposure: Framing the Impact of Prescription-Medication Sharing”, American Journal of Public Health. 98(6), pp.1115-1121. Kadden, Ronald M. (2008). Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Substance Dependence: Coping Skills Training. University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Retrieved November 19, 2010 from http://bhrm.org/guidelines/CBT-Kadden.pdf. Lakon, C., Hipp, J. & Timberlake, D. (2010). “The Social Context of Adolescent Smoking: A Systems Perspective”, American Journal of Public Health. 100(7), pp.1218-1229. Levy, Sandra. (2006). “Campaign Launched to Stop Teens’ Drug Abuse”, Drug Topics. 150(12), p.26. Wall Street Journal. (2006). “Teen Abuse of Legal Drugs Goes Unchecked”. May 16, p.D4. Office of National Drug Control Policy. (2007). “Teens and Prescription Drugs. An Analysis of Recent Trends on the Emerging Drug Threat”. Retrieved November 19, 2010 from http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/teens_and_prescription_drugs.pdf. Promoteprevent.org. (2010). “Prescription Drug Abuse by Adolescents”. National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from http://www.promoteprevent.org/publications/prevention-briefs/prescription-drug-abuse-adolescents Soldatova, Galina. (2007). “Psychological Mechanisms of Xenophobia”, Social Sciences. 38(2), pp.104-121. Read More