Causes of Drug Use Among UK Teenagers: A Research Report

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TITLE
“THE CAUSE OF DRUG USE BY TEENAGERS IN UK”
BACKGROUND
In modern era the use of drugs, alcohol and substances are common among teenagers
with increasing exposure to such environmental stimuli and accessibility to such
substances (Pedersen et al., 2018). It is common for the teenage group to experience
or try alcohol and drugs in this phase of life where they may be doing experimentation
with such things or gets dependent on such things. The cause of initiation of such things
in a teenager’s life can be varied and can be studied to know the main impact off
addiction on their psychology. It is often seen that the individuals who start the drug use
is as an experiment or due to peer pressure during teenage but it soon converts to their
addiction where they get dependent on the substance and more than the pleasure they
seek in the use of such substance they need it to live. Miller and Plan., (2017) stated
that the culture in UK and western society teach them to drink and they are exposed to
these substances since a very early age that is one of the chief reasons of why the
teenager’s in UK are driving more and more towards use of drugs and substance
abuse. The child since an early age if is exposed to culture of drinking and smoking it is
surely possible for them to adopt these habits in their late or early teens. The European
School Survey project examined the use of drugs by teenagers in Europe; it was found
that around 26% of boys and 29% of girls in UK are indulged in drug use (Pedersen et
al., 2018). Lot of such causes of teenager’s using drugs in UK is identified by the
researches but yet the exact and convincing causes of this issue are to be found. This
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way the current study will fill the gap in the literature present by aiming at identifying
reason for increasing drug use by teenagers in UK.
STATEMENT PROBLEM
Drugs are any substances that manipulate the human physiology and functioning by
producing effects on the organs and tissues. Drugs consist of psychoactive material,
alcohol, medicinal products etc. Use of drugs for health and welfare is legitimate and
allowed but excessive use of drugs to produce the sedative and euphoric effects is
harmful for the human body. Increasing prevalence of drug abuse by teenagers in UK
has raised a concern on why this issue is increasing every year (Askeland et al., 2018).
The survey suggests that the teenagers in Britain are the heaviest drug users in whole
of the Europe. The societal issue is now becoming larger by engulfing majority of
teenagers under the trap of addiction and dependency that leads to health issues and
even death.
RESARCH QUESTION
 What is the chief cause of drug use by teenagers in UK?
 What is the impact of excessive drug use by teenagers in UK?
 What is the impact of drug abuse on physical and mental health of teenagers in
UK?
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LITERATURE REVIEW
According to the study by McLaughlin et al (2016), the effects of family issues on the
mentality and psychological aspects of the teenager is one of the causes of their drug
use. The study used nine focus groups with 62 participants to collect data regarding this
issue. The data was evaluated by extracting themes and the findings revealed that
following causes were identified for the drug use of the teenagers including the parent
and child relationship, parenting style, and parental and sibling substance misuse
history. The study was beneficial in explaining that the parenting and parental influence
on the child is one of the basic reason for the substance misuse by the teenagers. The
youth living with complex family issues are more prone to be exposed to substance and
drug use than others. The study was well formulated and focused but the sample size
was not wide and so the results cannot be generalized.
Askeland et al (2018), in their study examined the issues or mental health issues that
persist due to problematic drug use in teenagers. The study used cross sectional
method using Norwegian adolescent population. The impact of excessive drug use
among teenagers in this study was reported to be self-reported anxiety, depression
hyperactivity and inattention. The study indicated how the teenagers using drugs were
mainly experiencing mental and physical health issues that deteriorated their quality of
life. The study is beneficial to the review as it highlights some important effects of drug
misuse to the teenagers.
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METHODOLOGY
The method or a plan to strategies the research is known as research methodology
(Silverman., 2016). This research is based on the mixed qualitative method of study that
uses both primary and secondary data collection method to extract the relevant data for
the research use. The qualitative research is defined as the research that focus on the
collection of subjective data that do not contain any numerical values in it but is mainly
consisted of non-numerical patterns, perceptions, values and beliefs (Merriam and
Grenier., 2019). The data in this research will be collected by using primary method that
is the written questionnaire that will be provided to 10 participants. The secondary data
will be collected by the use of literature review that is the data collection tool that
reviews the preexisting primary researches. After the data collection the findings will be
evaluated through the correlational analysis of the data being collected and conclusion
and recommendations will be formed on its basis (Flick., 2018).
TIMELINE
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Topic selection
and approval
Research
proposal
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Proposal
refinement
Literature review
Determination of
methodology
Framing of
questionnaire
Gaining consent
from participants
Conduction of
survey
Data analysis
Findings
Results
Final report
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REFERENCES
Askeland, K.G., Sivertsen, B., Skogen, J.C., La Greca, A.M., Tell, G.S., Aarø, L.E. and
Hysing, M., 2018. Alcohol and drug use among internationally adopted adolescents:
Results from a Norwegian population-based study. American journal of
orthopsychiatry, 88(2), p.226.
Flick, U., 2018. An introduction to qualitative research. Sage Publications Limited.
McLaughlin, A., Campbell, A. and McColgan, M., 2016. Adolescent substance use in
the context of the family: A qualitative study of young people's views on parent-child
attachments, parenting style and parental substance use. Substance use &
misuse, 51(14), pp.1846-1855.
Merriam, S.B. and Grenier, R.S. eds., 2019. Qualitative research in practice: Examples
for discussion and analysis. Jossey-Bass.
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Miller, P. and Plant, M., 2017. Being ‘Taught to Drink’. UK Teenagers’ Experience.
In Youth Drinking Cultures(pp. 147-160). Routledge.
Pedersen, M.U., Thomsen, K.R., Heradstveit, O., Skogen, J.C., Hesse, M. and Jones,
S., 2018. Externalizing behavior problems are related to substance use in adolescents
across six samples from Nordic countries. European child & adolescent
psychiatry, 27(12), pp.1551-1561.
Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
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