Alcohol And Drug Abuse Among College Students

Essay, Research Paper

Jon Rigell

English 101-07

Cause and Effect Essay

Dangerous Acts

Alcohol and drug abuse has been an active habit among college students sense the 1960s. The immediate cause of this behavior was the youth’s need to rebel against the overly conservative American society. This rebellion led to a since of freedom for the young adults, which caused them to continue acting in these unintelligent manners. After a short period of time, late teens just did not belong if they were not participating in the mischievous acts. Substance abuse quickly became a way of life for many young adults. As a result, this inapt behavior still continues today.

To first-time college students, acting in a way that parents would disapprove somehow exhibits breaking from the womb. This “Mom can’t control me now” attitude greatly contributes to substance abuse among undergraduates. These students have been taught throughout their entire lives exactly what not to do; but they now have the ability to decide for themselves. Naturally, the late teenagers are intrigued about what has been forbidden to them in the preceding years.

This inquisition results from inexperience. The growing strictness of parents greatly interferes with the maturing of adolescents. Consequently, teenagers enter the final stages of growth at the college level instead of high school. The college campus provides a vast learning environment in which students easily break from parent limitations. Student’s perplexity intensifies as the parent’s role of guiding is omitted. The naive young adults, now forced come to their own conclusions, often make poor choices. Costly mistakes prevail as the underdeveloped adults lack the proper preparation of which the university environment requires.

This college environment proves to be a very trying atmosphere to the young adults. Confusion and hardship inevitable follow departure of the home. Thus, the college years have developed into a time for finding oneself. Alcohol and drug abuse provide a means to conceal feelings of insecurity that arise from the students uncertainty of themselves. Substance abuse acts as a stress reducer through the beginning stages of college.

The most common characteristic of a human being is the necessity to adapt to a given surrounding. This trait consists of both good and bad aspects. Certain adaptations are positive while others can be destructive. Many students enter college with extensive education on substance abuse. Unfortunately, these students receive a hands on lesson from peers that indicates using is inconsequential. Fraternity parties and dorm room gatherings overcome the students. Some of these students even disapprove of these social functions at first. However, they quickly become immune to the atmosphere. The end result is the participation of these once pure students in the conventional behavior. The facts and statistics are quickly forgotten and washed away.

The students who do not adapt and choose to abstain are immediately labeled negatively. By choosing not to participate in the universal activity on campus, these students limit their social life. This is a tremendous sacrifice. College supposedly represents the best years a person’s of life. No one wants to miss out due to being perceived as overwrought and uptight. For this reason, students compromise their high ethics and beliefs in order to belong. By relinquishing, they rid themselves of the undesirable depiction, and they become “normal”. These students end up joining right into the excitement and promptly show disregard for the beliefs that had previously held such importance.

Other students begin with just a couple beers and move on to harder drugs. The same logic and reasoning that justifies drinking is incorporated into the decision to try drugs. More than not, students are under the influence of alcohol when experimenting with a drug for the first time. Once the initial defensive shields are let down the student’s morals and limitations quickly deteriorate. This leads to continuous substance abuse thereafter. With friends partaking in the unhealthy acts themselves, guidance away from such behavior is difficult to come by. Students fail to notice the negative effects of the abuse due to their surroundings.

As long as grades are maintained and classes are accredited for, students are capable of justifying this wild way of life. The dangers of this behavior are easily overlooked when responsibilities are being met. The undergraduates also possess an excellent front to present to parents when the semester concludes. Thus, parents are in the dark in relation to the actual events of their child’s life. Students don’t see the correlation between dropping grades and substance abuse. They dismiss lower grades as the result of a difficult class or an impossible professor. A low “C” is suddenly viewed as a high enough grade. The once great ambitions of the students fall to improvisation.

College greatly complicates the lives of many young adults. Problems arise as students take on loads of tedious work and thorny new surroundings. However, the hardest test takes place outside the classroom. Changing a series of factors can reduce the complexity of this test. In history, society has repeatedly created itself over again with each generation. This phase of substance abuse could easily be erased with the next wave of students. The students that abuse alcohol and drugs are intelligent, differential students. Their purity lies within but is overcome by their surroundings. These students possess the necessary principles but lack the confidence to stand on their own. Their righteousness is only temporarily lost and can easily be derived again.