Stages of Human Growth and Development Relative to Addiction

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I did some looking around online regarding the stages of human growth and development relative to addiction and I found the most research surrounding adolescence so I'm going to give you some information on that specific developmental time.

"During the final stage of adolescence, trial independence (ages18 - 23) risk of addiction to substances tends to increase" (Pickhardt, 2012, para 1). Some of the reasons include loneliness when moving away from home for the first time due to college, more personal responsibility to manage, the involvement in college based social activities such as sororities and fraternities, and more availability of illegal drugs and alcohol. It is common around this time of life for individuals to have what begins as recreational and experimental use of drugs and alcohol to become excessive and addictive (Pickhardt, 2012).

Regarding gender differences and addiction, "women begin using drugs at lower doses then men, their drug use escalates more rapidly into addiction, and they face a greater risk of relapse after abstinence" (Elements, 2012, para 2). Research also shows that women are more likely to enter into treatment sooner after becoming dependent on substances than men but they also generally have more psychological distress related to the treatment and addiction than men. Overall, the rates of drug use are lower among women than men however, women can often find it more difficult to quit than men.

Differences among the elderly and addiction lay in the fact that substance abuse and addiction often increases later in life, similarly to adolescence. In fact, according to current census data, substance abuse and addiction in those who are ...