Delinquency and Substance Misuse Among US Teens See Significant Decline
12- to 17-year-olds in the US are now far less likely to misuse alcohol, nicotine and illegal drugs. The same age group is also less prone to delinquent behaviours, such as stealing and fighting than the generation before. This is according to new research published in the academic journal Psychological Medicine, which looked at data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Substance use appears to have declined by as much as 49%, and delinquency by 34%, according to the findings. The lead author of the research project states that it is not clear what is causing this parallel decline. However, he suggests that new laws – including higher taxes of tobacco products and anti-bullying policies – can only have had a positive effect. Wider environmental factors too may have contributed. These would include “reductions in childhood lead exposure, lower rates of child abuse and neglect, and better mental health care for children”.
Another key point to take from the research is that while more and more US adults are becoming addicted to opioids – in what has become known as the American Opioid Crisis – misuse among 12- to 17-year-olds has dropped by nearly 50%. Based on the data collected by the survey, the paper estimates that the total number of substance use disorders among US teens has declined by around 2 million since 2003.