Affluence and Academic Pressure: Two Factors That Lead to Drug Abuse?
A new study published in the journal Development and Psychopathology claims to have found a positive link between affluence, high academic performance and drug and alcohol use.
Such findings are important because it has previously only been well established that chronic poverty poses an increased risk for developing substance use disorders, with much research addressing how to minimise the risk in these environments, specifically.
According to the lead author of this particular study: "We now need the same dedicated research on kids who grow up in pressure-cooker, high achieving schools. Paradoxical though it may seem, these ostensibly privileged youth, many of who[m] start experimenting early and often with drinking and drugs, could well be among the groups at highest risk for alcoholism and addiction in adulthood."
