Teen Substance Abuse Article Library

Family-Based Treatment Programs Can Reduce Adolescent Drug Abuse

Many factors influence adolescent drug abuse. Peer relationships; family, school, and neighborhood environments; and social or cultural norms can each act as protective factors or can put adolescents at increased risk. NIDA-supported researchers are developing and evaluating a variety of treatments designed to address the range of influences that play a role in adolescent drug abuse. In a study that compared three treatment approaches, researchers have found that Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT), which involves individual therapy and family therapy, produced better treatment outcomes than did Adolescent Group Therapy (AGT) or Multifamily Educational Intervention (MEI), a treatment delivered in sessions involving more than one family.
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Making Good Decisions

Sooner or later, most American children will be offered drugs, and will have to make a conscious decision to accept or reject them. And they will likely be faced with this decision many times before they grow out of adolescence. How can you make sure your child continues to make the right choice?
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Keeping Latch-Key Kids Off of Drugs

If job responsibilities and longer work hours keep parents from being home with their children immediately after school, they can still monitor their kids' activities during this critical time.

Seven and a half million children in the United States between ages 5 and 14 are latchkey kids, according to the National Institute on Out-of-School-Time. Research confirms that kids are less likely to get into trouble when a responsible adult is watching them. In a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, researchers found that eighth graders who are unsupervised more than 10 hours a week are about 10 percent more likely to try marijuana, and twice as likely to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, as eighth-graders who are not unsupervised during the week.
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Family: A Child's Anti-Drug

If it seems like keeping up with your child's schedule has become a hefty task, there isn't any wonder why. Kids have a lot going on these days—team practice, piano lessons, hanging out with friends. Kids today are learning to place a greater value on what is meaningful in their lives—which is precisely why less of them are turning to drugs.

So, what is it that comes between them and drug use? A nationwide movement conducted by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign asked kids just that: “What's Your Anti-Drug?” The things that invigorate, enlighten and excite children—like hobbies, sports, people, and interests—all have an impact on their choice to not use drugs. In fact, they are your child's Anti-Drugs.
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How To Select a Treatment Program

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, the federal agency responsible for nearly all of the research on drug abuse, recently published the following principles which were developed and reflect what the research to date demonstrates about drug treatment. These program elements represent the state of the art treatment essentials, as we currently understand them.
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Adolescent Treatment Programs Reduce Drug Abuse, Produce Other Improvements

In the first large-scale study designed to evaluate drug abuse treatment outcomes among adolescents in age-specific treatment programs, NIDA-supported researchers have found that longer stays in these treatment programs can effectively decrease drug and alcohol use and criminal activity as well as improve school performance and psychological adjustment.
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Drug Addiction Treatment Methods

Drug addiction is a treatable disorder. Through treatment that is tailored to individual needs, patients can learn to control their condition and live normal, productive lives. Like people with diabetes or heart disease, people in treatment for drug addiction learn behavioral changes and often take medications as part of their treatment regimen.
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High School and Youth Trends

Since 1975, the MTF has annually studied the extent of drug abuse among high school 12th graders. The survey was expanded in 1991 to include 8th and 10th graders. It is funded by NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The goal of the survey is to collect data on past month, past year, and lifetime drug use among students in these grade levels. This, the 28th annual study, was conducted during spring 2002.
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