How Common Is Teen Addiction?

Addiction is often something that is difficult to quantify, and particularly in the case of teen addiction it can often be difficult to differentiate between teens who are simply having a troubled youth and turn to substance abuse or alcohol for comfort, and those who genuinely feel the urge to turn to substances or alcohol, and then have problems stemming from this.

Trying to identify the difference in a teenager is often a fairly difficult task, and while there are sites like TroubledTeensParenting.com that can help a parent to identify addiction within their teens, it often isn't just a straightforward case of addiction or not.

One of the important things that are encountered with teen addiction is that teenagers will often not be able to identify the problems themselves, and will simply see their use of alcohol or drugs as something which isn't a major problem and not doing them any harm. This can make it more difficult to help them deal with their addiction, and can be a factor that leads to the higher rates of teen addiction that are being seen nationwide.

When it comes to the most popular drug that teenagers will make use of, alcohol stands head and shoulders above any of the other illicit drugs or even cigarettes. This is generally because alcohol remains fairly easily attainable for many teenagers, and can also be taken in a way that can also taste quite nice, with alcopops and ciders being a way in which teens can drink alcohol.

Surveys across the country do tend to bring back varying results for the statistics regarding drug and alcohol abuse, but one of the biggest surveys is that produced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and this has found that nearly half of twelfth graders had been binge drinking in the fortnight before the survey, with a quarter of tenth graders and eight percent of eighth graders drinking five or more drinks in succession in the weeks prior to the survey.

When it comes to the use of illicit drugs marijuana is the drug of choice for the majority of teens that choose to use drugs, with a third of teens in total admitting to having used the drug in the year before the survey. Other drugs are less popular, but are still used by a significant proportion of the teenage population.

The problem is that ascertaining how many of these teenagers can be counted as addicts is less straightforward, although many studies have shown that the earlier a teenager will start using a drug or alcohol, then the more likely it is that they will become addicted to that substance.

There is no doubt that teen addiction is a significant problem for many teenagers, and for the many teens that use drugs or alcohol there are some who are actually addicted to such substances, but the most important thing for these teens is that they can get the help required and actually help them to recover from their addictions and move on to a successful and productive life.