The Effects Of Substance Abuse On The School Aged Populations

Sings of Substance Abuse and Addiction in the School-Aged Populations One study asked counselors about the prevalence of substances used by high school students and found that the counselors most often dealt with alcohol issues (Burrow-Sanchez Lopez, 2009). While alcohol may be one of the most widely dealt with substances from a counselor’s perspective, it is essential to be able to identify signs of alcohol abuse and other substance abuse so that action can be taken. Signs of substance abuse can vary, but within a school setting school counselors and other stakeholders can look for changes in academic performance, truancy, withdrawal, isolation, impulsive behavior, changes in mood (anxiety, anger, depression, irritation), changes in appearance, poor hygiene, tardiness, dropping out of sports and other school activities, and associating with peers known to use drugs, (Burrow-Sanchez, Jenson, Clark, 2009; Flaherty, Sutphen, Ely, 2012; Hagedorn, Young, 2011). These signs of possible substance abuse issues need to be looked at further if a student is identified as having any of these signs as other things could be going on. For instance, a student may be dealing with their parents divorce and could be tired and not doing homework because the student is listening to their parents fight. This is why it is important that school counselors do look for signs of addiction and assess students properly so that counselors can identify if the student is having an issue withShow MoreRelatedDepression Is Predictive Of Substance Abuse Outcomes788 Words   |  4 PagesRecent research further suggests that depression is predictive of substance abuse outcomes. In a study done by Sihlova (2008), suggested early onset of depressive disorders predicted multiple substance use outcomes, including frequent alcohol use, and frequent daily smoking from a sample of 1545 adolescent twins assessed at baseline age 14, and then again at age 17.5. 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