Teenage girls are more likely to commit drug abuse than boys
Partnership for a Drug Free America shows, there is a higher tendency on girls to abuse drugs than boys.It appears that girls have mentioned in the survey that drugs ca help teenagers get over problems at home. More than two thirds of the girls have said that drinking and getting high it’s good for dealing better with issues.The study also uses an analysis made in 2009 by the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) that shows increased percentage in both girls and boys on the tendency for using drugs. So if in 2008 there was a 61 % of girls saying that “drugs help kids to deal with problems at home”, now it has grown to 68 %. That’s also the case for for the ones saying that drugs help you forget troubles, because in 2008 there was a 48 percent that increased to 53 in 2009 in those admitting that. When it comes to boys the case is not so so bad, however the numbers have also changed from 2008 to 2009. A 52 percent of the boys said that “drugs help you relax socially”, compared to a 45 percent in 2009. Also when it comes to declaring that a party it’s more fun after using drugs 41 percent said that’s true in 2009, compared to 34 percent in 2008.
Those are some worrying numbers, but the second problem is that, expected or not, girls are much more vulnerable to using drugs and alcohol, because they don’t see it only like a fun factor but also as a way of self heeling. That’s even worse when we look at the fact that the same study showed in 2008 that the number of girls suffering from depression is more that three times bigger compared to the number of boys suffering from it.
Here are the statements of Partnership and President and CEO Steve Pasierb on the matter “Parents of teen girls have to be especially attentive to their daughters’ moods and mental health needs, which can have a direct effect on their child’s decision to risk her health by getting high and drinking.” He also says that “Parents can help prevent alcohol and drug abuse by recognizing and addressing their daughters’ worries and stresses, by supporting her positive decisions and by taking immediate action if they suspect or know she has been experimenting with drugs and alcohol.”
It also apears that a big number of teens don’t even realize the danger of drug and alcohol abuse and they don’t consider them being addictive. More over, the percentage of young girls disapproving with their friends using drugs has gone down from 82 % in 2008 to 77 % in 2009.
Dennis White President and CEO of the MetLife Foundation said that “It’s troubling to see that girls view illicit drug use as less dangerous than they previously did and are more likely to drink alcohol. For boys and girls alike, however, parents need to know when it’s time to act, and how to act when confronted with a substance abuse situation, ensuring they’ll be more effective in preventing a serious problem.”
So, by the end of the day it comes to each family to take good care of the child and to educate him in a proper way so that he doesn’t fall into drugs. And throughout the teenage years parents have the obligation to constantly check on their kids state of mind and their entourage.
Fortunately, for the parents that do find themselves in the situation where their kid has gone in bad ways, there is the Take Action program, developed with the Treatment Research Institute, that helps both the child and the family understand the problem, deal with it and get over it in the best conditions possible.
For more information on the matter you can visit the official website of the program www.drugfree.org11
