Young people are at risk of increasing their use to a more harmful level if they are experiencing difficulty coping with the challenges of adolescence or other significant life events and if their coping mechanisms are not strong. Young people can also be at risk if they do not feel they are supported at home and within the community. It is important to understand some of the reasons why teenagers choose to experiment with and sometimes misuse alcohol and drugs:

Family

• Family related problems, including unstable relationships within the family such as divorce and death
• Lack of effective parental skills in terms of modeling appropriate behaviours for children and poor discipline
• Genetics
• Imitating adults or others
• Learning behaviour from parents

Individual/Peer

• Peer pressure
• For fun
• For excitement
• To shock
• Low self-esteem
• Immaturity and vulnerability
• Loneliness
• Boredom
• Anti-social behaviours
• Attention-seeking behaviours to fulfill an important underlying need
• Rebellion
• Thrill-seeking
• Curiosity and impulsiveness
• Exploration and self-discovery
• Inability to cope with life issues, such as having family who have experienced the horrors of the Holocaust
• Change in mental or physical health
• Difficulty coping with sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse

School/Work

• Unemployment
• Low career prospects
• Academic failure
• Unrealistic/high expectations for young person to achieve

Community

• Relative low cost of purchasing substances
• Legality of some substances
• Easy availability of some drugs
• Change in laws and norms regarding drug use
• Limited strategies for dealing with anxiety and stress
• Lack of positive role models in the community