Of mice and (young) men

Recent research, based on both animal and human studies, has provided us with a greater understanding of the dangers of nicotine, as well as the increased risk faced by adolescents who use psychoactive substances.
One study was based on male rats — of varying ages — self-administering nicotine over a one-month period. Adolescent rats consumed more than three times as much nicotine as the adult rats, underscoring the poor judgment and inability to self-regulate that we see in human adolescents. Over time, as the adolescent rats “matured,” their use of nicotine dropped to the level of the adult rats.
Interestingly, the female adolescent rats did not use as much nicotine as their male counterparts, but they also did not lower their use as they matured.
Such differences in behavior according to gender are found in the use of various drugs, including cocaine. Brain scans of long-term cocaine users who were now abstinent showed that in females a different part of the brain had been affected than in males. We also know that females are less likely to seek treatment for substance problems, most likely more for sociological reasons than physiological ones.
But, back to the kids. A review of six years of data gathered in the Monitoring the Future surveys taken by eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders illustrates the ongoing danger of youths driving drugged. Driving after drinking alcohol or using other psychoactive substances — most commonly marijuana — has declined somewhat since 2001, but it remains at about 30 percent of high school seniors. About one in three seniors reports that within the two weeks prior to the survey, they either drank or smoked marijuana and then drove, or they were a passenger in a car driven by someone under the influence.
As mentioned previously, we see gender differences here as well. Boys were slightly more likely than girls to drive after using an illicit drug or to ride with a driver who had.
And differences in race or ethnicity are also a factor: Hispanic seniors are less likely than whites to drive after using marijuana, and black seniors less likely than whites to drive after heavy drinking. So, white male high school seniors sit atop this particular pyramid of irresponsible and risky behavior.
Protective factors — those aspects of one’s family and social life that help to guard against substance problems — were apparent in this study. Better students, those with religious affiliations, and children of highly educated parents were among those who were less likely to engage in risky behaviors.
I previously wrote about the go-stop system in our brains, and the fact that the adolescent brain is not yet sufficiently formed for this system to operate efficiently. So the combination of an inadequate go-stop system and driving under the influence means that young drivers are at greater risk for not being able to put on the “brakes” quickly enough.
For more information: http://monitoringthefuture.org.
Bill Brigham, M.S.W., M.A., of Scotts Valley is administrator of the National Football League Program for Substances of Abuse and father of five daughters. Contact him at wc*******@gm***.com.