August 21, 2003
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a study on Tuesday which states that teenagers who are stressed, bored and have spending money are at an increased risk for substance abuse. The study does have some interesting findings and I do agree with a few of their prevention tips, but these criteria are too general and vague to be of any service.
The amazing part is how bored teens are today. My own experience with teenagers over the last 9 years has confirmed that they are incredibly difficult to please and have extremely short attention spans. They are bored despite their access to 200+ channels of TV, game consoles, computers, the Internet, movies, organized sports, disorganized sports, telephones and shopping malls. Boredom is truly an attitude. It is a state of mind and not a state of being.
By the way, according to this New Jersey Star-Ledger article, this study should be taken with a grain of salt:
The Columbia survey, which included focus groups of New Jersey teens, is the center's eighth. Last year's findings on teen binge drinking became controversial when the liquor industry challenged the data. Columbia later lowered the figures.
The biggest problem with these studies is that they highlight correlations but fail to identify causes. I don't believe that having money is a cause of drug use. I do believe that of the kids who desire to do drugs, those with money are better able to act on that desire. In the same way, I don't believe that stress and boredom are causal factors in drug use.
