Psychosocial

• Psychosocial Problems


  General problems in adolescence
• Most adolescents report positive outcomes and psychosocial development
• Most psychosocial problems


  • Are often transitory experimentation
  • Don't all begin in adolescence
  • Do not persist into adulthood
  • Are not "caused" by adolescence
• Problems in Adolescence


  Anxiety disorders and behavioral disorders typically begin during childhood, whereas mood disorders and substance abuse first appear during adolescence
• Three broad categories of psychosocial problems

  • Substance abuse: use of drugs (illegal and legal)
  • Internalizing disorders: problems turned inward (emotional or cognitive distress)
  • Externalizing disorders: problems turned outward (behavioral problems)
• Substance abuse in particular is often co-morbid (or co-occurring) with both internalizing and externalizing disorders
• Problem Behavior Syndrome


  Many adolescents with behavior problems experience multiple problem behaviors
• High levels of comorbidity make it difficult to differentiate between internalizing and externalizing
• Cause of externalizing behaviors


  Unconventionality in the adolescents personality and social environment
• Characteristics of Problem Behavior Syndrome

  • Tolerance of deviance
  • Not connected to school/religious institutions
  • Highly liberal views
• Problem Behavior Syndrome


  1. One problem may lead to another problem

  2. Cascading effect
• Social Control Theory


  Individuals without strong bonds to social institutions are more likely to deviate from the norm and behave in unconventional ways
• Problems stem not from within the individual but from underlying weaknesses in the individuals attachment to society
• Social Control Theory is helpful in understanding problem behavior in poor, inner city minority youths
• Negative emotionality


  Presumed cause of internalizing disorders, characterized by a subjective state of distress
• Adolescents high in negative emotionality are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other symptoms of distress
• Society sends mixed messages to youth about drugs and alcohol
• Reflects the inconsistent way that we view these substances as a society
• Some drugs are okay in some circumstances and not okay in others
• Most commonly used and abused substances by high school seniors

  • 66% have tried alcohol
  • 44% have smoked marijuana
  • 34% have smoked cigarettes
• Only about 8% of high school seniors have used an illicit drug (other than marijuana) in the last month
• Percentage of high school seniors who use substances daily

  • 10% smoke cigarettes
  • 2% use alcohol
  • 7% use marijuana
• 20% of high school seniors, 13% of 10th graders and 4% of 8th graders engage in binge drinking (5 or more drinks in a row on one occasion)
• Research suggests that drug and substance use hasn't gotten better or worse
• Trends in marijuana use have not changed much
• Drinking has declined slowly or not at all
• Since 1990s, smoking has decreased dramatically
• Early substance use (prior to age 15) is a risk factor for development of addiction
• Immigrant paradox


  Foreign-born and less Americanized minority youth are less likely to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco than their American-born counterparts
• The rate of drug use among immigrant adolescents is half the rate of use among adolescents from the same ethnic group who were born in the United States
• Progression of substance use

  Experimentation with alcohol, to marijuana use, to more illicit drugs
• Little evidence to suggest that marijuana is a "stepping stone" to hard drug use (depends on the frequency of use)
• Gateway drugs


  Developmental trajectory of substance use increases during adolescence, peaks in early 20s, declines
• Important to stress difference between occasional experimentation and problematic use
• Experimenters and abstainers score better on measures of psychological adjustment
• Adolescents who use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs frequently are usually exhibiting symptoms of prior psychological disturbance
• Major risk factors for substance use and abuse

  • Personality – Anger, impulsivity, and inattentiveness
  • Family – Distant, hostile, or conflicted relationships
  • Socially – Friends who use and tolerate the use of drugs
  • Contextual – Live in a context that makes drug use easy
• Major protective factors that limit individual vulnerability to harm

  • Positive mental health
  • High academic achievement
  • Engagement in school
  • Close family relationships
  • Involvement in religious activities
• Adolescent brain


  Still malleable (changing)
• Potential for addiction is greater during adolescence