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Overview Adolescents can be diagnosed with a substance use disorder when they have an ongoing problem with their use of a substance in one of the following categories: Alcohol, cannabis, hallucinogens, inhalants, opiods, sedatives, stimulants, and or tobacco. An adolescent's use is considered a problem if it causes them distress and or disrupts their daily functioning. The severity of the disorder is dependent amount of symptoms the adolescent shows based on their relationship or reliance upon one or more of the above substances.

Causes There are three main models that explain the causes of this disorder and reasons for its development in certain adolescents. Enhanced Reinforcement Model In this model, the adolescent has a genetic diathesis to develop the disorder. Additionally, they are sensitive to a given substance. Thus, their substance use increases because of their positive expectations of the substance. Finally, these factors together result in a substance use problem. An example of this model in action is a teen who drinks at parties to feel more at ease and comfortable in social situations. This could develop in to a problem because this teen could increase their drinking to the point when it is a problem because they begin to crave the positive feeling they get while using it.

Negative Affect Model This model shows how negative reinforcement can be a causal factor for substance abuse problems. First, an adolescent experiences life stressors and daily hassles. They then discover that use of a given substance reduces the distress and negativity they feel. Then, a substance abuse problem develops. A teen who smokes weed daily to escape their problems and stress is an example of this model.

Deviance Prone Model First, the adolescent has a genetic diathesis for substance sensitivity and problems with a given substance. This leads to behavior under-control, emotional reactivity, and or executive functioning deficits (difficulty making decisions for example). The prescence of one of all three of those problems leads to disruptive behavior and or school-related problems. These lead to peer rejection and association with deviant peers. This last problem has a high likelihood of developing into a substance use problem. In this model, alcohol or drug use are seen as a symptom of conduct problems.