Substance Abuse in UK Young Adults: A Report on Prevalence and Impact

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TOPIC
The prevalence and impact of substance abuse among 16 to 25 years old
individual in the UK
BACKGROUND
Substance abuse is referred as the consumption off harmful and hazardous substances
including alcohol, drugs and psychoactive substances. The use of these kinds of
substances is increasing in today’s generation and era. The excessive use of
psychoactive substances can cause dependence syndrome (Taylor et al., 2017). The
young adult age group involving teenagers are mostly getting addicted to such trends in
contemporary world. Change in lifestyle, modernization, accessibility to drugs and
substances and exposure through media are altogether the cause of increasing
substance abuse in 16 to 25 years old people in UK (Mayes and Suchman., 2015).
Dependency syndrome is referred to the disorder that is caused after repeated
substance use involving behavioral, cognitive and physiological changes in human
body. It is surveyed that around 22.9% of the 16 to 25 years old age group in UK are
addicted to substances and consumes different substances in their routine. Other than
this around 59.6% of adults and people in late twenties in UK are chronic alcoholics
(Mayes and Suchman., 2015). As per the UK drug report estimated that around
42,069,267 people in UK is exposed to substance abuse. Cocaine and cannabis are the
most commonly consumed substances in UK by this age group. The prevalence of
substance abuse is increasing and this has severe impact on physical and
psychological wellbeing of the early adult group in UK.
STATEMENT PROBLEM
Substance abuse is a severe issue and societal concern that is to be addressed by the
government to improve the health of teens and early adults in UK. The rising prevalence
of substance abuse in UK has created various issues like increase in crime rate,
homelessness, illiteracy, unemployment etc. (Mayes and Suchman., 2015). The issues
that are associated with substance abuse reduce the overall quality of life of the
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individual and the families associated with it. It is important for the government to
address the health requirements of such individual and work on it by promoting better
strategies to be able to control substance abuse in UK. This research will help in
highlighting th increasing prevalence and cause of this increasing incidences of
substance abuse in UK that can be used as a guidance to create better policies and
laws to control it.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Broad question
What are the prevalence rate of substance abuse in UK and the impact of it on the life
of teenagers and early adults?
Narrow questions
What are the impacts of substance abuse on the life of individuals in UK?
What are the impacts of substance abuse on the families of the people who are
addicted to it?
What burden does substance abuse possess on the economy or UK?
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to a study by Degenhardt et al (2016) the increasing prevalence of substance
misuse in world has presented major challenges in front of the nations. The article
aimed at analyzing the prevalence of substance abuse in young adults aged 10 to 25
years over the world. The author believes that substance use during this age affects the
transition and developmental phase of the child. Substantial differences among different
counties were noted in levels of type of drug used, availability, characteristics and age
group exposed to it. The Global Burden of Disease report (2013) suggested that the
burden of substance abuse highly increases among the adolescents and young adults
all over the world. The study used various sources to collect authentic statistical data
and evaluated them together to find that the overall drug burden and substance abuse
in majority of the developed and developing nations is among the teenagers and young
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adults making 16 to 25 years of age group most vulnerable to drug use. The study is
relevant to this research as it provides authentic data and facts regarding the use of
drugs and substance among the set age group in different countries including UK.
Taylor et al (2017) examined the association of cannabis drug use in UK teenager and
its impact on problematic substance use among 18 to 21 years old age group. The
study used longitudinal class analysis study to find the relevant information. %315
participants were selected who had cannabis exposure at least thrice since the age of
13 years. It was seen that the classes created that included late onset, early onset,
substance use mothers’ etc. the class with early onset were mostly addicted and
became dependent on the drug. The results revealed that most of the users in the group
used cannabis occasionally and regularly both. The regular users have problematic
drug syndrome rather than occasional users. As the article took limited sample size and
longitudinal study option there are chances of bias and destruction of sample quality
with time.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology refers to the strategy followed by the researcher in order to plan and
conduct the research. There are various methods of conducting a research based on
content, data collection method and analysis method. On basis of the content and
nature of the research it can be analytic, experimental or descriptive. On basis of data
collection method it can be primary or secondary and on basis of data analysis method
it can be quantitative or qualitative research (Silverman., 2016). This research is a
mixed descriptive qualitative research that provides the perception of individual and
humans. Primary research element are addressed by use of in depth interviews with the
substance abusers that will provide data that is fresh and first hand and reliable than
other data sources. Secondary method of research here is addressed by use of
literature review where the literature on chosen topic will be reviewed with help of
database search. Qualitative method will be used as the study deals in collection of
subjective data rather than any objective numerical observations (Silverman., 2016).
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TIMELINE
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
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Topic selection
and approval
Research
proposal
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
Degenhardt, L., Stockings, E., Patton, G., Hall, W.D. and Lynskey, M., 2016. The
increasing global health priority of substance use in young people. The Lancet
Psychiatry, 3(3), pp.251-264.
Taylor, M., Collin, S.M., Munafò, M.R., MacLeod, J., Hickman, M. and Heron, J., 2017.
Patterns of cannabis use during adolescence and their association with harmful
substance use behaviour: findings from a UK birth cohort. J Epidemiol Community
Health, 71(8), pp.764-770.
Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Mayes, L.C. and Suchman, N.E., 2015. Developmental pathways to substance
abuse. Developmental Psychopathology: Volume Three: Risk, Disorder, and
Adaptation, pp.599-619.
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