According to Daniel Romer and Michael Hennessy’s (2007) article, “A Biosocial-Affect Model of Adolescent Sensation Seeking: The Role of Affect Evaluation and Peer-Group Influence in Adolescent Drug Use”, adolescents tend to have risky behavior as compared to adults (Hennessy & Romer, 2007). They mention how teenagers have a higher intake of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs while adults do not because adults have the ability to control their intake (Hennessy & Romer, 2007). Furthermore, evidence suggests that the drug intake is at peak during the adolescence period (Hennessy & Romer, 2007). Moreover, they state how drugs such as nicotine, alcohol and marijuana have the ability to elicit “dopaminergic” release in the “brain reward center” (Hennessy & Romer, 2007). Hence, young adults have a stronger urge to take drugs because they find them rewarding as compared to adults (Hennessy & Romer, 2007). Likewise, intake of drugs causes risks of patterns in brain maturity. Romer and Hennessy (2007) state how this will cause the “prefrontal cortex (PFC)” to mature slowly. The PFC area controls planning and decision making skills and as stated before, tends to mature more slowly compared to individuals that do not intake any sort of drug (Hennessy & Romer, 2007).
Relating to Hypothesis #1
Relating to Hypothesis #2
Ellen Tuchman (2010) in her article, “Women and Addiction: The Importance of Gender Issues in Substance Abuse Research”, talks about how women who happen to intake drugs are found to get sick more quickly and have a higher rate of developing liver problems, hypertension, anemia and gastrointestinal disorders compared to the male drug users (Tuchman, 2010). Tuchman (2010) also states that women also experience “gender-specific” medical problems as a result of their drug intake such as infertility, vaginal infections, repeat miscarriages and premature delivery (Tuchman, 2010). Moreover, despite the fact that women tend to have a lower level of alcohol intake, they suffer severe medical consequences compared to men, including the “cirrhosis” (Tuchman, 2010). Furthermore, women have a higher risk of breast cancer and heart disease even if the amount to drug intake is relatively lower to that of their male counterparts (Tuchman, 2010). Additionally, women have a death rate of 50% to 100% higher than men who have the same amount of drug use (Tuchman, 2010). Tuchman (2010) also states how the impact of smoking and developing lung cancer risk is much gather for women than men. Therefore, drug intake affects women more than it does on men.