Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources
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Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources
Introduction
The ranges of issues that teenagers face today are way more different and complicated than the ones some decades ago. In the contemporary world, teenagers are more stressed which lead them to involve in different illegal things. More teens are getting pregnant, suffering from eating disorders, depressed/ anxious, and have more exposure to alcohol and other drugs. In this assignment, one of the most common contemporary issues is substance abuse, however, various factors linked to substance abuse are discussed.
Discussion
External Stressors
There is a misconception that those teenagers who go towards the path of alcoholism and other drugs are rebellious and just want to defy what their parent wants. Of course, there are cases like this but sometimes the reason behind it is a lot deeper (CDC, 2019). Teenager nowadays suffers from depression and anxious feeling which is one reason for substance abuse. Depression and anxiety could be due to the stress at home as in contrast with the past times, more children are being emotionally and sometimes physically abused at home. The bad situation at home also led towards low-self esteem which is another leading factor of alcoholism (CDC, 2019). Besides these factors, peer pressure, boredom, and curiosity are also among the main factors that have the potential to lead towards the usage of alcohol and other drugs.
Assessment Strategies
The first step of the screening includes the identification of the substance that the teen has been using and the negative effects that are related to it. It is also essential to identify certain external stressor that leads a teenager towards substance abuse (Cacciola et al., 2015). It is a crucial step because these external stressors are basically the root cause of substance abuse. It could be anything depending on the individual situation. Identification of the possible issues in school, peer groups, family, and legal domains should be analyzed during screening. Different screening instruments are used for the assessment purpose including BSTAD and...