Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
4-25-2025
Keywords
adolescence, Center for Disease Control, drug misuse, drug use, high school students, illicit drugs, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, protective factors, risk behaviors, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, unprotected sex
Disciplines
Developmental Psychology
Abstract
The adolescence stage of life is a critical period for increased risk behaviors such as use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs (Chen & Jacobson, 2012), unprotected sex and sexually transmitted infections (Center for Disease Control, 2014) as well as violent and nonviolent crimes (Pastore & Maguire, 2006; Collado, MacPherson, Kurdziel, Rosenberg, & Lejuez, 2014). Drug misuse during adolescence continues to be a problem in the United States. Mitchell et. al. (2014) illuminate the epidemical forces of drug use by reviewing data of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), showing that 1 in 10 adolescents from ages 12–17 in the United States report using illicit drugs and that almost 50% of high school students “will have used illicit drugs” by the time they graduate (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2010; Mitchell, Gryczynski, O’Grady, Schwartz, 2013).
Recommended Citation
Klein, Maike, "Adolescent Drug Use" (2025). Essays in Developmental Psychology. 6.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/edp/6