Troubled Teens Resources

Can a cigarette ultimately lead a kid to teen drug abuse,land them in jail or in schools for troubled teens? Well, it’s a stretch, but the first step down that road has to start somewhere and a recently released report offers the opinion that it starts with that first cigarette.

“Compared to 12- to 17-year-olds who don’t smoke, teenagers who do are over five times more likely to drink and 13 times more likely to use marijuana, media reported quoting a U.S. study Wednesday.

Smokers aged 12 to 17 are more likely to drink alcohol than nonsmokers — 59 percent compared to 11 percent, the study found.

Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at age 12 or younger are more than three times more likely to binge on alcohol — 31 percent compared to 9 percent, and nearly seven times more likely to use other illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine.”

If indeed the report proves to be accurate - and one always hesitates to accept these findings without further confirmations down the road - none the less, if it is true, then the sequence of addictions is one everyone is familiar with.

The question that has often been posed by parents asks if teenagers seek relief for their depression and anxiety via drugs or if drug use precedes the onset of those conditions. This suggests that smoking could set the teen up for both.

“Teenagers who smoke also have a higher risk of depression and anxiety disorders. Teens who reported early initiation of smoking were more likely to experience serious feelings of hopelessness, depression and worthlessness in the past year.”

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Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder appears to have different ramifications for girls than for boys, new studies suggest. Both teen boys and teen girls are beset with hormonal changes and standard teen age confusion and angst. But researchers feel that teen girls react differently than their male counterparts.

“Through these new studies about teen girls with ADHD, we know that there appears to be a much higher risk for mental illness by the time the girl reaches 17. This Harvard Medical School study is alarming. As you can imagine, early diagnosis and treatment are essential. The sooner your daughter can be diagnosed and provided with the best treatment option, the better chance you have to head off full-blown mental illness. With this particular study, 140 teen girls with ADHD were followed, ranging in age from 12 to 17. Then, they were compared with another group of 122 girls without ADHD. The study showed that when the girls reached age 17, the group of ADHD had higher levels of clinical depression and greater problem with anxiety disorders.

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Parents with teenage girls who have a constellation of behavior problems in addition to ADHA are often better served through programs available at schools for troubled teens that are designed to address these issues along with offering a complete academic program.. Specialty schools are becoming the preferred option by many parents of troubled teenagers.