Seeing college and the young adult years as "the party years" may be a reason that the ages 16-29 are the fastest growing group of people with substance abuse and dependency problems, according to much research.
And addictions, such as gambling, alcohol, tobacco, prescription and illegal "street drugs," though they may be considered temporary and fairly harmless by many young people, can carry consequences throughout life.
A person's dependence on any habit-forming activity or substance can have lasting psychological and physical implications, with penalties ranging from falling grades and class failure to legal trouble, health problems and even death. Additionally, some students under the influence of an addiction may be victimized by others.
Substance abuse by young people can be rooted in many things beyond the feel-good high, including trying to overcome shyness, cope with stress, stay awake studying or trying to fit in with peers.
"What I think we are seeing in college is that students have a low moral compass or are not using a moral compass," said Dr. Doug Matthews, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Memphis. "It's the attitude that whatever is right for you is okay. Even Hollywood doesn't show movies about people in college going to class, getting good grades, finishing up and going on with life. That's not what most people's perception of college is."
But a distinction should be made between abuse and dependency. Abuse of a substance or activity is defined by the behaviors and habits associated with it, and dependency has a pattern which differs in three critically important ways - it becomes chronic, progressive and potentially fatal.
And while abuse and dependency share symptoms, which are often recognizable before any major trouble starts, symptoms of dependency include four additional warning signs - craving, loss of control, physical dependence and tolerance.
Additionally, while these definitions of abuse and dependency provide a general understanding, it should be said that addiction to street or party drugs, in particular, differs in a major way. Because most illegal drugs are not manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, their composition isn't regulated - a person could use a drug one time and become addicted or die.
Some additional symptoms to look for, according to Matthews, who is also the head of the Tennessee Center for Addiction and Research at the University of Memphis, are:
̢ۢ An increased interest in substance use (alcohol or drugs)
̢ۢ An increased interest in the context surrounding substance use, like going to parties, where there is going to be drinking or hanging out with people who drink or use drugs
̢ۢ Additional risky behavior, like having unprotected sex or multiple sexual partners
̢ۢ A decrease in class attendance or preparation
But the research on the trend of addictions and substance misuse in college is still inconclusive. One reason for this may be that research in this area is relatively new, according to Matthews.
"It's hard to assess the figures for this group because we've really just begun to research this group. But what we have found is that binge drinking is the trend that's grown the most and is also the most dangerous and detrimental kind of substance abuse," said Matthews.
However, according to Alcohol Problems and Solutions, a State University of New York web page dedicated to dispelling the myths about alcohol, the proportion of college students who abstain from drinking jumped about 58 percent between 1983 and 1994. The SUNY group also contends that alcohol use in college has continued to decline over the last several years and that statements made about college drinking have been "misleading and inflammatory."
Smoking cigarettes is an area of dependency that has shifted from high school to college.
"We used to say that about 80 percent of people began smoking before finishing high school, but now we're seeing in the research where people are really taking up smoking for the first time in college," said Dr. Leslie Robinson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Memphis.
Robinson, who works in the areas of smoking cessation and prevention programs designed for young people, sees a correlation between the freedom people have in college and the habits that they develop.
And she is not the only one. Freedom from parental control is a factor cited by many professionals as a contributor to student's experimentation in activities, behaviors and substances that they would otherwise avoid under the watchful eyes of disapproving parents.
"Parental Control is a major factor in all types of experimentation and abuse, except maybe alcohol. It's not really as much of a factor for alcohol now, at least not like it was in the past," said Matthews. "Studies and research have shown us that the vast majority of graduating high school seniors have already experimented with alcohol."
While being away from home may play a major role in most college experimentation and addiction, there are other factors involved. According to netaddiction.com, the official site for The Center for Online Addiction, other factors in abuse and addiction to the Internet are free and unlimited access, no monitoring of what is said and done by authority figures, escape from stress, social influences and huge blocks of unstructured time.
Additional factors that play a role in student drug and alcohol use and abuse, according to Matthews, are acceptability, lack of solid peer accountability and even biology.
"Biological factors tend to propel people from experimentation to addiction most often," said Matthews. "We found, through our research in animals, that even low amounts of the consumption of alcohol can contribute to the transition from social drinking to abuse drinking, and that the cause is more biological. And that is true of almost every type of addiction, except marijuana, which is the one drug that is more psychologically addictive."
