Substance Abuse

Effects of Substance Abuse on Academic Performance
Student’s name
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Abstract
Drug abuse causes both short and long-term cognitive effects. Following the rise of concerns about substance addiction, this paper, therefore, investigates the effects it has on academic performance. There exists solid information on the substance misuse in the society. The background information provides a general understanding of what addiction is and how the students are vulnerable to this condition. This study further incorporates previous researchers under the substance abuse. The existing literature has studies on the reasons for indulging in drug addiction and how these elements affect individuals well being. This study is indented to elaborate the effects addiction has on the academic performance with the variables highlighted in the hypothesis. The population under the study has been selected by use of sampling techniques and will involve students in high schools, teachers, and nonteaching staff. Both qualitative and quantitative data gathered will be analyzed to facilitate the accurate and useful results. As the effects of drug abuse among the students on academic performance are harmful, there is a need for immediate bodies such as the teachers, guardians and parents take immediate actions to resolve any instances of drug abuse so as to evade the risks associated.

INTRODUCTION
This section consists of the information that relates to background information on drug addiction about the academic performance, problem statement, and the literature review.

It also highlights the purpose of this research study and the hypothesis.
• Background information
All over the world, drug abuse has been on the rise causing harmful effects on various fields in the society. The substance abuse has considerably increased among the young generation, kids, youth, teenagers and young adults. Statistics indicate that across the globe, seventy-eight percent of all the teens have encountered or be involved in drug abuse. The most common abused drugs include alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco. A lower percentage of 1.3 has used cocaine as it is expensive and supply limited. The extent and frequency of substance abuse significantly rely on the availability of drugs among the youths. More alarming results reveal that substance abuse practice is high in schools by both staff and the students. There have been reports of students caught in the act of using drugs.
Substance abuse among the students seems to have adverse and detrimental effects toward the general academic outcomes. Parents, guardians and immediate bodies take their children to school with concerns that they will excel in academics and gain moral values. However, such factors such as drug abuse hinder these expectations, alter the smooth learning process and have adverse effects such as termination of education.
• Literature review
There exist several factors that contribute to the consumption of drugs among the teenagers. Most of these factors are provided by the specific drug effects on the user. People may take drugs to acquire the feelings of goodness, being and doing better. Drugs cause various reactions in the body that result into self-confidence, relaxation and increased energy or high cognitive performance. Moreover, the largest cause of drug use among teenagers is curiosity and peer influence.
Initially, individuals report a sense of control and justify beneficial factors from the use of narcotics. However, frequent high use of these substances overcomes their power and ability to control the drugs. Despite the increase of problems among the users, they continue to abuse the drugs for pleasurable activities and drive to feel normal.
Most addicts report that their first instances with drugs were voluntary. However, constant intake of narcotics overtook their ability to control the intake and became drug dependent. Substance abuse affects brain resulting in poor judgments, loss of memory, and inability to control behavior. Different people have different vulnerability levels to drug addiction just like any other condition. High-risk factors will facilitate high chances of substance abuse. Moreover, the biological makeup of a person, family background, gender and social environment one grows in affects the vulnerability of drug addiction.
There exists a relationship between substance and academic performance among the students. The core variable in this relationship is explained in the end results of poor performance among the students. There exists no substantiated information regarding the addicted substances among the students with analysis on the consumption rates. Moreover, studies indicate that uncontrolled alcohol abuse results in school drop outs, poor performance, unplanned pregnancies and spread of infectious diseases.
• Purpose of study
The general aim of this paper is to identify the effects drug abuse has on general output level in academics for high school students. The research aims at establishing causes for drug addiction, its effects and recommends possible solutions in for this menace. Moreover, this study is significant as it intends at adding knowledge to the existing studies on substance abuse. It will further be helpful to the bodies concerned with the education performance of the students thus facilitating improvement in the performance.
• Hypothesis
Substance abuse has negative effects on the academic performance of students. Continued consumption of drug substances results in the lack of interests in studies and deviate one concentration from the studies. The drugs cause poor judgments that lead to poor decision making, and students report a high rate of school termination, unplanned pregnancies, and violent behavior. All these occurrences have adverse effects on the academic performance of students.
METHODS
• Participants
The study will be conducted on high school students in the United States that comprise of students of various origins, color, gender, age and ethnic backgrounds. The schools will be selected in the cities as they pose a resemblance of all other schools across the county. It will include a total population of five hundred participants. The members will comprise of students, teachers and the non-teaching staff. For efficient results, the study will adopt simple, systematic and stratified sampling in the determination of the workable size that avoids bias in segmentations.
• Materials
Various methods will be employed in data collection. It will include questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The questionnaires will be formulated in paper materials and will be distributed among the participants selected. It will also use video cameras to record interviews with the chosen people. Means of transport such as vehicles will be used to access members in different high schools. Further, the observation method will be adopted in a secretive way as the respondents will not realize if they are being studied.
• Procedures
The existing problem requires the acquisition of both statistical and descriptive data as the researcher intends in generating accurate results. The research design to be adopted will comprise of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Both approaches will facilitate the accumulation of enough and relevant information required to solve this problem.
PLANNED ANALYSIS
The data collected will comprise of information related to the student’s personal profile and instances of drug encounters, the frequency of substance abuse, school attendance, and general academic performance. It will also include syllabus coverage by teachers who abuse drugs and those who do not. This data, therefore, will be analyzed by use of various techniques such as charts, tables, and questionnaire coding keys. This presentation of data will enable the researcher to perform better data analysis hence coming up with a useful result summary for interpretation.