¡Bienvenidos!

Este blog tiene como finalidad mostrar algunos aspectos importantes de diferentes problemas comunes en la adolescencia. Esperamos que lo disfruten e invitamos a todos a hacer comentarios que enriquezcan la información aquí presentada.

Drug Addiction/ Adiccion a las Drogas

The next topic on this blog will be about Drug Addiction.

Addiction is a complex disorder characterized by compulsive drug use. People who are addicted feel an overwhelming, uncontrollable need for drugs or alcohol, even in the face of negative consequences. This self-destructive behavior can be hard to understand. Why continue doing something that’s hurting you? Why is it so hard to stop?

The answer lies in the brain. Repeated drug use alters the brain—causing long-lasting changes to the way it looks and functions. These brain changes interfere with your ability to think clearly, exercise good judgment, control your behavior, and feel normal without drugs. These changes are also responsible, in large part, for the drug cravings and compulsion to use that make addiction so powerful.

The path to drug addiction starts with experimentation. You or your loved one may have tried drugs out of curiosity, because friends were doing it, or in an effort to erase another problem. At first, the substance seems to solve the problem or make life better, so you use the drug more and more.

But as the addiction progresses, getting and using the drug becomes more and more important and your ability to stop using is compromised. What begins as a voluntary choice turns into a physical and psychological need. The good news is that drug addiction is treatable. With treatment and support, you can counteract the disruptive effects of addiction and regain control of your life.


La adicción es un trastorno complejo caracterizado por el uso compulsivo de drogas. Las personas que son adictas se tienen un sentimiento abrumador e incontrolable de necesidad por las drogas o el alcohol, aun cuando tienen consecuencias negativas. Este comportamiento auto-destructivo puede ser difícil de entender. ¿Por qué continúan haciendo algo que les daña? ¿Por qué es tan difícil de parar?

La respuesta yace en el cerebro. El uso repetido de drogas puede alterar el cerebro, provocando cambios duraderos en la manera en la que se ve y funciona. Estos cambios en el cerebro pueden interferir en la habilidad de pensar claramente, ejercer buen juicio, controlar el comportamiento, y sentirse normal sin las drogas.

Estos cambios también son responsables, en gran parte, por los deseos intensos y la compulsión a utilizar drogas que hace la adicción tan poderosa.

El cambio a la drogadicción empieza con la experimentación. Usted o su ser querido pueden haber probado drogas por curiosidad, porque amigos lo estaban haciendo, o en un esfuerzo de borrar otro problema. Al principio, la sustancia parece resolver el problema o mejorar la vida, entonces utiliza más y más la droga.

Conforme la adicción progresa, obtener y usar la droga se vuelve cada vez más importante y puede disminuir su habilidad de parar el uso. Lo que comienza como una decisión voluntaria se vuelve una necesidad física y psicológica. Las buenas noticias es que la drogadicción es tratable. Con tratamiento y apoyo, se pueden contrarrestar los efectos perjudiciales y volver a controlar su vida.


jueves, 22 de abril de 2010

R-rated Movie Viewing, Growth in Sensation Seeking

The current study employed parallel process and discrete time hazard regressions to examine the interplay among exposure to R-rated movies, sensation seeking, and
initiation of alcohol use in a national U.S. sample (N=6255)of adolescents, ages 10–14, who were followed over four waves spanning 2 years. There was a short-term reciprocal relation between watching R-rated movies and sensation seeking, but over the 2-year observation period, exposure to R-rated movies was associated with increases in sensation seeking and not vice versa. Sensation seeking also moderated
the effect of watching R-rated movies on initiation of alcohol consumption such that exposure was associated with greater increases in initiation of alcohol use among low sensation than among high sensation seeking adolescents. The study
provides empirical evidence of an environmental media effect on sensation seeking, and important new information about the relations among sensation seeking, media exposure, and adolescent alcohol use.interplay between a child’s personality and the environment (cf., Bronfenbrenner 1995; Collins et al. 2000; Deater-Deckard and Cahill 2006). Three related areas of research have formed the foundation of these new models. First,although previous research and theory conceptualized traits as
enduring elements of personality that are stable over time and across situations (Buss and Plomin 1984), contemporary research has demonstrated that traits change in response to environmental influences (Caspi and Moffitt 2001; Johnson
et al. 2007). For example, one recent longitudinal analysis of traits revealed that 95% of participants showed reliable change in at least one trait in late adolescence and early adulthood: The modal number of changed traits was three or four (Blonigen et al. 2008). These authors concluded that stability in personality traits can be attributed to genetic influences, whereas changes are largely attributable to
environmental influences. Second, a related development is the growing evidence that children vary widely with respect to their reactions to specific environments or environmental events; i.e., environmental influences do not exert uniform
effects on all children (Rothbart and Bates 1998; Slater 2007;Tarter and Vanyukov 1999). Third, it has been suggested that the relation between personality and environmental influence is reciprocal; i.e., a child’s personality influences his/her
preferences for specific environments, and environments can influence the development of the child’s personality. For example, it has been suggested that children with high activity levels or sensation seeking are more likely to seek
environments that expose them to exciting and risky temptations (Bardo et al. 1996; Wills and Dishion 2004),and that these new environments can shape their personalities. Although all three of these ideas are generally accepted,they are usually addressed separately, and this has led to a significant understatement of the complexity of the relations among personality, the environment, and behavior.

FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE visit http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.nd.edu/content/x1nr3j538706u847/fulltext.pdf

1 comentario:

  1. I don't think things like watching R-rated movies are major factors in this kind of behavior. There are plenty of responsible people that watch R-rated movies without adverse effects. I firmly believe the parents' role in raising the adolescents is the most crucial. That is why I think the study about the kids and their parents should be repeated with a larger sample size. (There were only 14 people studied).

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