Adolescence happens to be a sensitive time for experimentation for developmental reasons. Thus most adolescents become eventual addicts to psychoactive drugs, which mostly prevails between the age of 10 to 25 years. At this point in life, studies have found that they have the most vulnerable brains which result in them making bad decisions such as involvement in drug abuse. Various reasons cause such behaviours, including learning from society, exposure to media which facilitates the idea of using drugs. The pop culture has also been cited as a significant cause of drug usage and addiction among adolescents. Psychological concepts and theories such as social control theory, social learning theories and elaborated models can explain the role the media and pop culture play in drug abuse among youths.
Social control theory claims that human beings have a natural attraction to pleasure, self-interest and deviant behaviours. Thus, the theory explains what motivates adolescents into abusing drugs. (Krohn, Loughran, Thornberry, Jang, Freeman-Gallant, & Castro, 2016). Therefore, adolescents become constrained to drug abuse since they become bound to conventional society. The media and pop culture provide them with pleasure and self-interest as they find such content such as lifestyles of pop-artists interesting as the media presents them.
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Social learning theory holds the principle that drug abuse, just like any other behaviour, is learned and determined by consequences. Therefore, adolescents get involved in drug abuse as a result of learning from the negative influences in the society such as media, music videos and movies which portray substance abuse positively (Griffin, & Botvin, 2010). Besides, advertisements communicate positive messages about drugs such as alcohol. Furthermore, pop artists seem to be enjoying their lives which then make adolescents learn with the idea that drugs have positive consequences. Also, as Prinstein (2010) puts it, many adolescents rapidly embrace all that their peers consider being cool, through which they embrace drug abuse.
Through the media, adolescents find role models whose lifestyles they emulate, including their bad aspects such as drugs. According to Bogt. et al., (2012), pop music artists become potent role models due to their fame and how the media portrays their high status. Therefore, adolescents learn from them as their role models, learning even the negative aspects such as drug usage, which then makes them addicts.
In conclusion, psychological theories prove that media and pop culture play a significant role in adolescent drug and alcohol abuse. Although adolescents have underdeveloped brains, which is vulnerable, which often make them make bad decisions, the media and pop culture provide a platform on which they decide to abuse drugs.
References
Bogt, T. F. T., Gabhainn, S. N., Simons-Morton, B. G., Ferreira, M., Hublet, A., Godeau, E., ... & the HBSC Risk Behavior and the HBSC Peer Culture Focus Groups. (2012). Dance is the new metal: Adolescent music preferences and substance use across Europe. Substance use & misuse, 47(2), 130-142.
Griffin, K. W., & Botvin, G. J. (2010). Evidence-based interventions for preventing substance use disorders in adolescents. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 19(3), 505–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2010.03.005
Krohn, M. D., Loughran, T. A., Thornberry, T. P., Jang, D. W., Freeman-Gallant, A., & Castro, E. D. (2016). Explaining Adolescent Drug Use in Adjacent Generations: Testing the Generality of Theoretical Explanations. Journal of drug issues, 46(4), 373–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042616659758
Prinstein, M., “Jocks, Brains, Populars: Crowds' Effects On You.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2 Nov. 2010, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-teen/201011/jocks-brains-populars-crowds-effects-you .
