Risk and Protective Factors and How they Influence Substance Abuse

Risk Factors and How They Influence Substance Abuse
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Risk Factors and How They Influence Substance Abuse
To help understand the scientific research that associates drug abuse with the story, the paper is divided into three sections, the individual and the peer section, the parents' section, and the community and neighborhood section. These parts play a role in the risk and protective factors, as shown in Nic's story.
Individual and peer
 Individuals play a part in creating a habit for substance abuse, whether it is poor self-control, sensation seeking, being exposed to the substance very early, which may lead to behaviors such as being antisocial, low school aspiration, and having difficulty in transitioning from one stage to another. We assess this behavior concerning Nic's story from early childhood to adolescence.
Nic started taking drugs at the age of eleven when his parents went fishing in Tahoe, leaving him alone with his friend. The two took the opportunity to try out the sweet-smelling liquid on the shelves, which was alcohol. His friend was able to stop drinking after a few glasses, but that was not the case for Nic; he did not stop drinking. The two examples show how easy accessibility of drugs can lead to children ‘experimenting’ (Sheff, 2009). Easy to access drugs as stated in the class content, the easy access to drugs is one of the prime reasons children indulge in them. Nic and his friend were exposed to alcohol at the parietal stage, which did not result in addiction. The risk factor of lack of self or behavior control is clearly illustrated. He is later associated with crimes of breaking into houses and stealing bikes with his friend Gack to get money to buy drugs.
Additionally, Nic results to his old substance abuse habits after discovering that moment, a woman he was eyeing had gotten pregnant with his boyfriend. He had been recovering at the Malibu rehabilitation center, and he had been clean for eight-months before his relapse. In middle school, Nic is exposed to peers who have more exposure to drugs (Sheff, 2009). He started his first heroin abuse at eighteen from Akira, living in Manhattan. Nic lacked the self-control to stop him from using the drug and eventually got hooked.
Nic's urge of sensation seeking led him to use crystal meth so much that he became addicted. He wanted to get the same feeling as he had felt when he did his first drug. After injecting his first Meth, he talks of how his values and morals were disappearing. He felt okay as long as he got his high. The drug made him want to live on the verge of death since that's where he felt alive.
His school motivation was low; he mentions how he had dropped out of school twice and had low motivation to study—showing a change from the earlier bright kid. During this period, the psychological part of the brain was maturing faster since he was an adolescent, which made his addiction to crystal meth faster. He hangs around deviant peers like Akira. 
Behavior like stealing money from his dad had soon followed to fund his drug needs. He was disassociating himself from his family members at one time, blurting out that their presence was suffocating him (Sheff, 2009...