on youth and drug use.
U.K. Report Finds Youth with High Self-Esteem
More Likely to
Use Drugs A new study by the well-respected Schools
Health
Education Unit in the United Kingdom finds that
young people with
high self-esteem are more
likely to take illicit drugs than those with less
self-confidence. The study, which surveyed 15,000
youths aged 14 and 15,
contradicts the
conventional wisdom that drug-use is most
prevalent
among insecure or troubled youth, or
those young people looking to
'escape'.
While up to 27 percent of young people with high
self-esteem reported using illegal drugs, only 20
percent of their peers
with lower self-esteem
reported using an illegal drug. Experts in the
United Kingdom say the new research will likely
lead to an overhaul in
drug education programs,
which often assume that drug use stems from low
self-esteem.
"Unfortunately the results blow a hole in the
simple
moral fable that young people are led into
the paths of righteousness by
high self-esteem,"
said David Regis, the leader of the research team
which undertook the study.
Researchers believe two factors explain
the
results. Youth with high self-esteem are more
likely to be sociable
and have more opportunity
to experiment with drugs. Self-confident youth
are also often more willing to indulge in 'risk-
taking' activities, from
extreme sports to drugs.
For more information on the study,
see:
"The Observer", "Confident Kids Likely to Try
Drugs",
2/11/01
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n249/a04.html?40183