Substance Abuse Awareness in 18 to 25-Year-Olds - Research Paper Example

Substance Use in 18 to 25 Year olds Section Using local, and national data resources, compile as muchdemographic and descriptive data as you can find out about substance use Substance abuse has been on the rampant in the United States especially among young people from the age of 18 to 25 in the Universities and Colleges. Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana top the list of the most used substances not only in this age group, but also in the whole world. The use of alcohol has been stated as the leading cause of deaths and calamities among this age group. In the Universities and Colleges, student parties are held on a daily basis with the students drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and marijuana till they pass out. They do this without a care of attending classes the following day or driving to their respective homes and dorm stations risking their lives and those of the people on the road. Studies conducted on smoking have proved it to be disadvantageous in maturity and mortality rates. Women smoking when pregnant are very likely to give birth to premature babies while smokers in general suffer the risk of getting smoke related diseases like lung cancer. As students love to attend parties where they will drink, morality is usually thrown out the door and hence engaging in sexual intercourse becomes the norm leading to premature pregnancies and eventually into prematurely born babies. Compiled demographic data Comparing adults at the age of 18 to 25 who are in the University to those who are not, studies have shown that alcohol is mostly taken by those in the University. 25 years is when substance use is at its highest. The number of people consuming alcohol depreciates after the age of 25 which is the age most students graduate. As for the use of tobacco, the number only increases after 25. Although people using tobacco increase in number after the age of 25, it does not mean the number is not high in the 18 to 25 age group. (Cooper, 2011). Descriptive data In 2012, adults from the age of 18 to 15 gained a 22% rate on substance use. Although this percentile was just among university students, part time college students and those not attending school had an almost similar percentile of 24%. Distinguishing between male substance users and female, the male had a higher percentile of 24.9% than the female who had 19.4%. In a different analysis comparing male marijuana users in part time programs to females in full time university programs, the part time male students using marijuana had a 23.5 percentile while the full time female students had a 16.1%. Selected population: Chose to refer from the case study carried out at University of West Indies, St Augustine A survey was carried out at the University of West Indies, St Augustine in May to June 2007 to determine a descriptive analysis on the number of students under substance use. During that period, the university had 8910 full time undergraduate students. 540 questionnaires were handed out to students and only 509 were brought back with the female students being the majority participants. The questionnaires addressed the person’s background i.e. age, sex, family income as well as their six month period of substance use. Of all the students who filled in the questionnaires, 70% used alcohol. 64% used alcohol within a 30 day period, 24% were regular alcohol consumers and 4% being daily users. Those using tobacco were 17% with 9% being classified as regular users, keep in mind a regular user was one who smoked tobacco more than 3 times a month. 13% of the people in the study had smoldered marijuana in the last six months with 55% of those being frequent users. (Csiernik, 2011). As 18 to 25 year olds are the biggest substance users, they have the largest percentage of alcohol consumers. This percentage has depreciated with time but alcohol consumption still proves to be a problem for this population. According to a report made for college students and problematic drinking, it states that in the year of 1990, 80% of the students had consumed alcohol. 84.2% of those consuming alcohol were heavy drinkers rating 5+ drinks for the male drinkers and 4+ drinks for the female drinkers within 90 days. According to a study carried by the Harvard School of Public Health College, 140 students were randomly picked from 4 year colleges across the US. It was found that these 140 alcohol drinking students consumed 14.5 drinks per week. This number when looking at the college as a whole but the heavy drinker consumes 90% of this estimate. Section 2: According to social work and related literature, what is the history of this population and/or issue? Looking at the history of 18 to 25 year olds engaging in substance use, most started their drinking in high school or even before. People in this population formed their drinking patterns before joining college and did not change their drinking habits even after joining college. Most of these people developed into heavy drinkers in college after having gotten used to the habit in their senior year of high school. Therefore, it is noted that the habits students formed before joining college were the same that followed them into college. Drinking among college athletes was a common thing so it is natural to follow that athletes who were heavy drinkers in high school carried on with the behavior into college. As athletes are among the most popular population in colleges, they held the most parties. Hence drinking every week was extremely common. (Dodgen & Shea, 2007). Besides peer influence being a major factor of drinking in high school and college, another factor was seeking a means to forget one’s problems in school or at home. As substance use tends to make one suffer a temporary memory lapse with sensations of the body being triggered like happiness, drinking was an escape for such students. Improving one’s social standing in the college is a very common factor that sways students into drinking alcohol. A student that uses these substances is more likely to be liked than the one who does not drink. The most affected students are those in their first year of college whereby they feel they either have a lot to prove or want to join a certain lifestyle. After consuming alcohol to get them to be more confident, they find themselves in regrettable situation like blackouts, sexual encounter with a person they regret having slept with or even physical fights. Has this population always experienced discrimination and inequality and/or has this issue been defined as a problem? Here, there are the demerits of substance use that lead students into discouraging the behavior Substance abuse has declined but not as fast as expected. The disadvantages that come with it have led to some students discouraging their use. The repercussions that follow alcohol consumption has especially led many to experience terrible judgments once the alcohol has set into the body and taken the person’s reasoning faculties. Some of the effects that follow alcohol consumption at a high rate are like the experiencing of arousal. Once people are drank, they tend to gain arousal toward other people with females being the most aroused compares to males. Females under the influence of alcohol become more bold and aroused. Not saying that males do not get aroused. They do. But most females, when not yet drank, are shy and full of pride thus will not engage sexual advances or reciprocate them. Headaches and hangovers are just some of the disadvantages of consuming too much alcohol. Getting dizzy is also another. Drinking alcohol affects people differently. Whereas some will get painful headaches and hangovers, some will just be dizzy or even experience none of the drinking after effects. Females are the ones most affected after consuming too much alcohol. (Stockwell et al, 2005). According to social work related literature, what are contemporary examples of oppression that most strongly impact your chosen population? A common cause for taking alcohol is to ease some social or personal tension. This has led to many students becoming alcoholics in campuses as they use alcohol as a tool to reduce tension. In this case, freshmen are the still the most affected people. People arrested around campuses for the first time are usually freshmen. As discussed earlier, their drinking habits have become a strategy to upgrade them socially. When most drinkers are asked why they drink, they will say it is because alcohol makes them feel good. Once again, students feel they want to escape into a happy state that alcohol usually generates. As much as alcohol enables one to escape into a world of happiness and acceptance by peers, the repetitive consumption always leads to alcoholism and depression. Students become hooked to the substance within no time and in the denial stages of inebriation, they will persuade themselves that they can control the urges as they only drink when they choose to. Depression might not be caused by alcoholism but it is a result from alcohol problems. As students choose to escape into their own happy world after taking alcohol, once some are sober, they realize they are back where they were before they got drank as nothing will have changed and start drinking again. This mostly affects students with bad background and is going through some challenges in lifetime. Learners at the University of West Indies, St Augustine suffer from much oppression. One of them is the experiencing of certain emotions triggered by the brains neural activity. Substance use impairs the mind leading the student to indulge in regrettable behavior ultimately resulting to suffering the consequences of their actions. Some of the actions done under the influence may lead the student to get suspended or expelled from school. The University has a strict policy against breaking school rules and regulations. Substance use has also led many students into addiction resulting to missing classes and ultimately dropping out of school. Critical analysis into the historical roots and contemporary oppression discussed above. Cited from pdf on College Students and Problematic Drinking In college, many students will engage in substance use as a way to fit in and have a good time but after decrease their consumption as most will veer towards serious careers and family life. Furthermore, the decline of alcohol consumption in colleges is a result of the consequences of consuming too many drinks as some students will choose not to indulge again to avoid suffering the consequences. Also, most students found that they do not achieve well in their educations due to the frequent consumption of alcohol thus opting not to take when exams were round the corner. The amount of trouble students got into like being arrested by campus police, getting caught for reckless driving and getting into fights were more than enough to discourage some from using substances like alcohol. Therefore, the decline of alcohol consumption in the universities and colleges is a good start towards condemning the manners. Nonetheless, there is still a big distance to cover before the decline becomes more rapid. (Sobell & Sobell, 2011). In inference, it is proof to say that students experiencing substance abuse have different reasons for doing so. A history in the family background of a student showing they come from a family of substance users may have influenced the student to indulge. Peer pressure is another reason for engaging in substance abuse with many students wanting to ‘belong’ in a certain social class. Also, engaging in substance use when in high school and continuing with the behavior even into college has been discussed showing most of these kinds of students end up becoming heavy substance users and end up being hooked. Universities and several other institutions have taken steps to discourage substance use leading to lesser consumption. Students risk losing credits or even getting expelled after behaving inappropriately after substance abuse. Such actions taken by the universities are a recommended step into a hopefully brighter future. References Cooper, D. B. (2011). Developing services in mental health-substance use. Oxford: Radcliffe Pub. Csiernik, R. (2011). Substance use and abuse: Everything matters. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. Dodgen, C. E., & Shea, W. M. (2007). Substance use disorders: Assessment and treatment. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Stockwell, T., Gruenewald, P., & Toumbourou, J. (2005). Preventing Harmful Substance Use: The evidence base for policy and practice. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Sobell, L. C., & Sobell, M. B. (2011). Group therapy for substance use disorders: A Motivational cognitive-behavioral approach. New York: Guilford Press. Read More