An Introduction to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist who is most noted for developing the hierarchy of needs theory. Considered the founder of humanistic psychology, Maslow typically wrote about such topics as behavior and motivation, and first introduced the hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation.

The basic premise of this theory is that humans are born with certain needs, which can be categorized into levels depending on their degree of importance. Our most fundamental needs are physiological needs, and then safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, and finally the need for self-actualization. The idea is that as we fulfill our most basic needs in life we are able to move upward and fulfill the more complex needs represented higher on the hierarchy. We will not seek to reach higher levels, however, until our most basic needs are realized.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is commonly depicted as a five-tier pyramid, in which the bottom level represents our physiological needs, or the most critical needs for life. In this category are the requirements necessary for survival: food, water, air, warmth, and sleep. Once these needs have been addressed, we are able to move onto the next level, which is comprised of safety needs.

The need to feel safe and secure is psychological as well as physical, and may manifest itself in different ways depending on individual circumstances. Job security and a stable family environment are two examples of ways individuals seek to bring safety into their lives, and feeling removed from danger is an important step in reaching more advanced platforms of the pyramid.

When we feel out of danger and secure in the world, we are able to progress up the hierarchy and begin to fulfill our needs of love and belonging. In the third level of the pyramid, our social needs become a priority only after our physiological and safety requirements have been met and maintained. Our affiliation with and acceptance by others becomes the focus of our desires. While many adults look to fill this need by marrying someone and starting a family, children seek belonging from their parents and teenagers work to gain acceptance from their peers.

The fourth tier of the pyramid is reserved for esteem needs, or the need for achievement, confidence, respect, recognition, and approval. People increase their self-esteem by gaining an education, advancing in their careers, and working to improve themselves.

After all the previous needs have been met, an individual is capable of achieving the highest point in the pyramid – self-actualization. According to Maslow, fulfilling this need means reaching one’s highest potential and truly understanding one’s self. Few people reach this level in their lifetime, and even fewer stay there on a consistent basis. If the previous levels are thought to be oriented towards physical and psychological needs, the fifth level can be considered more spiritual in nature.

While there are some critiques of the theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has informed scholars in many fields from education to healthcare, and continues to be applied to a diverse set of academic disciples. Moreover, it remains an important contribution to humanistic psychological theory, and is still relevant to discussions today regarding human behavior and motivation. 

This is the definitive and original Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of thousands of years. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs motivate us all.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.

Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.

Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs.

Maslow's original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first widely published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs model comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive Hierarchy of Needs.

Where Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is shown with more than five levels these models have been extended through interpretation of Maslow's work by other people. These augmented models and diagrams are shown as the adapted seven and eight-stage Hierarchy of needs pyramid diagrams and models below.

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

Maslow also talks about these levels in terms of homeostasis.  Homeostasis is the principle by which your furnace thermostat operates:  When it gets too cold, it switches the heat on;  When it gets too hot, it switches the heat off.  In the same way, your body, when it lacks a certain substance, develops a hunger for it;  When it gets enough of it, then the hunger stops.  Maslow simply extends the homeostatic principle to needs, such as safety, belonging, and esteem, that we don’t ordinarily think of in these terms.
Maslow sees all these needs as essentially survival needs.  Even love and esteem are needed for the maintenance of health.  He says we all have these needs built in to us genetically, like instincts.  In fact, he calls them instinctoid -- instinct-like -- needs.
In terms of overall development, we move through these levels a bit like stages.  As newborns, our focus (if not our entire set of needs) is on the physiological.  Soon, we begin to recognize that we need to be safe.  Soon after that, we crave attention and affection.  A bit later, we look for self-esteem.  Mind you, this is in the first couple of years!
Under stressful conditions, or when survival is threatened, we can “regress” to a lower need level.  When you great career falls flat, you might seek out a little attention.  When your family ups and leaves you, it seems that love is again all you ever wanted.  When you face chapter eleven after a long and happy life, you suddenly can’t think of anything except money.
These things can occur on a society-wide basis as well:  When society suddenly flounders, people start clamoring for a strong leader to take over and make things right.  When the bombs start falling, they look for safety.  When the food stops coming into the stores, their needs become even more basic.
Maslow suggested that we can ask people for their “philosophy of the future” -- what would their ideal life or world be like -- and get significant information as to what needs they do or do not have covered.
If you have significant problems along your development -- a period of extreme insecurity or hunger as a child, or the loss of a family member through death or divorce, or significant neglect or abuse -- you may “fixate” on that set of needs for the rest of your life.

This is Maslow’s understanding of neurosis.  Perhaps you went through a war as a kid. Now you have everything your heart needs -- yet you still find yourself obsessing over having enough money and keeping the pantry well-stocked.  Or perhaps your parents divorced when you were young.  Now you have a wonderful spouse -- yet you get insanely jealous or worry constantly that they are going to leave you because you are not “good enough” for them.

Self-actualization

These are needs that do not involve balance or homeostasis.  Once engaged, they continue to be felt.  In fact, they are likely to become stronger as we “feed” them!  They involve the continuous desire to fulfill potentials, to “be all that you can be.”  They are a matter of becoming the most complete, the fullest, “you” -- hence the term, self-actualization.
Now, in keeping with his theory up to this point, if you want to be truly self-actualizing, you need to have your lower needs taken care of, at least to a considerable extent.  This makes sense:  If you are hungry, you are scrambling to get food;  If you are unsafe, you have to be continuously on guard;  If you are isolated and unloved, you have to satisfy that need;  If you have a low sense of self-esteem, you have to be defensive or compensate.  When lower needs are unmet, you can’t fully devote yourself to fulfilling your potentials.
These people were reality-centered, which means they could differentiate what is fake and dishonest from what is real and genuine.  They were problem-centered, meaning they treated life’s difficulties as problems demanding solutions, not as personal troubles to be railed at or surrendered to.  And they had a different perception of means and ends.  They felt that the ends don’t necessarily justify the means, that the means could be ends themselves, and that the means -- the journey -- was often more important than the ends.
The self-actualizers also had a different way of relating to others.  First, they enjoyed solitude, and were comfortable being alone.    And they enjoyed deeper personal relations with a few close friends and family members, rather than more shallow relationships with many people.
They enjoyed autonomy, a relative independence from physical and social needs.  And they resisted enculturation, that is, they were not susceptible to social pressure to be "well adjusted" or to "fit in" -- they were, in fact, nonconformists in the best sense.
They had an unhostile sense of humor -- preferring to joke at their own expense, or at the human condition, and never directing their humor at others.  They had a quality he called acceptance of self and others, by which he meant that these people would be more likely to take you as you are than try to change you into what they thought you should be.  This same acceptance applied to their attitudes towards themselves:  If some quality of theirs wasn’t harmful, they let it be, even enjoying it as a personal quirk.  On the other hand, they were often strongly motivated to change negative qualities in themselves that could be changed.  Along with this comes spontaneity and simplicity:  They preferred being themselves rather than being pretentious or artificial.  In fact, for all their nonconformity, he found that they tended to be conventional on the surface, just where less self-actualizing nonconformists tend to be the most dramatic.

GENERAL APPLICATION

The deficiency or basic needs are said to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the need to fulfill such needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food the more hungry they will become.

One must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.

Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. Life experiences, including divorce and loss of job may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will be a blunt instrument if used as such. The way you use the Hierarchy of Needs determines the subtlety and sophistication of the model.

For example: the common broad-brush interpretation of Maslow's famous theory suggests that that once a need is satisfied the person moves onto the next, and to an extent this is entirely correct. However an overly rigid application of this interpretation will produce a rigid analysis, and people and motivation are more complex. So while it is broadly true that people move up (or down) the hierarchy, depending what's happening to them in their lives, it is also true that most people motivational 'set' at any time comprises elements of all of the motivational drivers. For example, self-actualizers (level 5 - original model) are mainly focused on self-actualizing but are still motivated to eat (level 1) and socialize (level 3). Similarly, homeless folk whose main focus is feeding themselves (level 1) and finding shelter for the night (level 2) can also be, albeit to a lesser extent, still concerned with social relationships (level 3), how their friends perceive them (level 4), and even the meaning of life (level 5 - original model).

Like any simple model, Maslow's theory not a fully responsive system - it's a guide which requires some interpretation and thought, given which, it remains extremely useful and applicable for understanding, explaining and handling many human behavior situations.

The teacher and Learners

Firstly, students should be able to choose what they want to learn. Humanistic teachers believe that students will be motivated to learn a subject if it's something they need and want to know but in this lesson the teacher doesn’t allow students to choose

What they want to learn. As soon as she took an attendance and after she gave information about final exam, she started to explain her lesson.

Students didn’t concentrate on the lesson. They didn’t have any motivation. Therefore; most of students didn’t listen to the subject. The goal of education should be to foster students' desire to learn and teach them how to learn. Students should be self-motivated in their studies and desire to learn on their own. Yes, in this subject, she is right. She often gave some instructions how they need learn the subjects.

Despite of this, students lost their attention, they don’t desire to learn. They go bored then and started to make noise. However; humanistic educators believe that grades are irrelevant and that only self-evaluation is meaningful. Grading encourages students to work for a grade and not for personal satisfaction. In addition, humanistic educators are opposed to objective tests because they test a student's ability to memorize and do not provide sufficient educational feedback to the teacher and student. According that the teacher mentions about the exam,

she doesn’t watch the student’s objective evaluation out. This teacher generally avail the

Students of their success according to the exam. This is not suitable the humanistic approach. Humanistic educators believe that both feelings and knowledge are important to the learning process. Unlike traditional educators, humanistic teachers do not separate the cognitive and affective domains and humanistic educators insist that schools need to provide students with an environment so that they will feel secure to learn. Once students feel secure, learning becomes easier and more meaningful.

Sometimes the students didn’t understand the subject and they can ask the questions and the teacher also asks if the students have any questions about the lesson. For this, the learners feel secure to learn, absolutely.

REFERENCES:

http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm

http://www.studentguide.org/an-introduction-to-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/

https://www.google.com.ph/search?espv=2&biw=1024&bih=511&tbm=isch&q=maslow+hierarchy+of+needs+3d&revid=743461164&sa=X&ved=0CCAQ1QJqFQoTCJL07czKmcgCFYKtpgodqSAF6Q&dpr=1#imgrc=W0O4aki-toccEM%3A

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html

http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

http://www.academia.edu/7214223/APPLICATION_OF_MASLOW_S_HIERARCHY_NEEDS_AND_THEORY_TO_EDUCATION

Personality Theory

Theories of Personality

by Saul McLeod published 2014

What is this thing we call personality? Consider the following definitions, what do they have in common?

"Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and though" (Allport, 1961, p. 28).
“The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique” (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).

Both definitions emphasize the uniqueness of the individual and consequently adopt an idiographic view.

The idiographic view assumes that each person has a unique psychological structure and that some traits are possessed by only one person; and that there are times when it is impossible to compare one person with others. It tends to use case studies for information gathering.

The nomothetic view, on the other hand, emphasizes comparability among individuals. This viewpoint sees traits as having the same psychological meaning in everyone. This approach tends to use self-report personality questions, factor analysis, etc. People differ in their positions along a continuum in the same set of traits.

We must also consider the influence and interaction of nature (biology, genetics etc.) and nurture (the environment, upbringing) with respect to personality development.

Trait theories of personality imply personality is biologically based, whereas state theories such as Bandura's (1977) Social Learning Theory emphasize the role of nurture and environmental influence. Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality assumes there is an interaction between nature (innate instincts) and nurture (parental influences).

Freud's Theory

Personality involves several factors:

– Instinctual drives – food, sex, aggression
– Unconscious processes
– Early childhood influences (re: psychosexual stages) – especially the parents

Personality development depends on the interplay of instinct and environment during the first five years of life. Parental behavior is crucial to normal and abnormal development. Personality and mental health problems in adulthood can usually be traced back to the first five years.

Psychosexual Development

People – including children – are basically hedonistic – they are driven to seek pleasure by gratifying the Id’s desires (Freud, 1920). Sources of pleasure are determined by the location of the libido (life-force).

As a child moves through different developmental stages, the location of the libido, and hence sources of pleasure, change (Freud, 1905).

Environmental and parental experiences during childhood influence an individual's personality during adulthood. For example, during the first two years of life the infant who is neglected (insufficiently fed) or who is over-protected (over-fed) might become an orally-fixated person (Freud, 1905).

Freud's Tripartite Theory of Personality

Freud (1923) saw the personality structured into three parts (i.e. tripartite), the id, ego and superego (also known as the psyche), all developing at different stages in our lives.

These are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical.

The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It consists of all the inherited (i.e. biological) components of personality, including the sex (life) instinct – Eros (which contains the libido), and aggressive (death) instinct - Thanatos.

It operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences.

The ego develops in order to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world (like a referee). It is the decision making component of personality

The ego operates according to the reality principle, working our realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society. The ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in deciding how to behave.

The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. It is similar to a conscience, which can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt.

Trait Approach to Personality

This approach assumes behavior is determined by relatively stable traits which are the fundamental units of one’s personality. Traits predispose one to act in a certain way, regardless of the situation. This means that traits should remain consistent across situations and over time, but may vary between individuals.

It is presumed that individuals differ in their traits due to genetic differences.

These theories are sometimes referred to a psychometric theories, because of their emphasis on measuring personality by using psychometric tests.

Eysenck’s Personality Theory

Eysenck (1952, 1967, 1982) developed a very influential model of personality. Based on the results of factor analyses of responses on personality questionnaires he identified three dimensions of personality: extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.

During 1940s Eysenck was working at the Maudsley psychiatric hospital in London. His job was to make an initial assessment of each patient before their mental disorder was diagnosed by a psychiatrist. Through this position he compiled a battery of questions about behavior, which he later applied to 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital (Eysenck (1947).

He found that the soldiers's answers seemed to link naturally with one another, suggesting that there were a number of different personality traits which were being revealed by the soldier's answers. He called these first order personality traits

He used a technique called factor analysis. This technique reduces behavior to a number of factors which can be grouped together under separate headings, called dimensions.

Eysenck (1947) found that their behavior could be represented by two dimensions: Introversion / Extroversion (E); Neuroticism / Stability (N). Eysenck called these second-order personality traits.

According to Eysenck, the two dimensions of neuroticism (stable vs. unstable) and introversion-extroversion combine to form a variety of personality characteristics.

Extraverts are sociable and crave excitement and change, and thus can become bored easily. They tend to be carefree, optimistic and impulsive.

Introverts are reserved, plan their actions and control their emotions. They tend to be serious, reliable and pessimistic.

Neurotics / unstables tend to be anxious, worrying and moody. They are overly emotional and find it difficult to calm down once upset.

Stables are emotionally calm, unreactive and unworried.

Eysenck (1966) later added a third trait / dimension - Psychoticism – e.g. lacking in empathy, cruel, a loner, aggressive and troublesome.

Eysenck related the personality of an individual to the functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Personality is dependent on the balance between excitation and inhibition process of the nervous system. Neurotic individuals have an ANS that responds quickly to stress.

Click here to measure your personality using the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI).

Cattell's 16PF Trait Theory

Cattell (1965) disagreed with Eysenck’s view that personality can be understood by looking at only two or three dimensions of behavior.

Instead, he argued that that is was necessary to look at a much larger number of traits in order to get a complete picture of someone’s personality.

Whereas Eysenck based his theory based on the responses of hospitalized servicemen, Cattell collected data from a range of people through three different sources of data.

• L-data - this is life record data such as school grades, absence from work etc.
• Q-data - this was a questionnaire designed to rate an individual's personality.
• T-data - this is data from objective tests designed to 'tap' into a personality construct.

Cattell analyzed the T-data and Q-data using a mathematical technique called factor analysis to look at which types of behavior tended to be grouped together in the same people. He identified 16 personality traits / factors common to all people.

Cattell made a distinction between source and surface traits. Surface traits are very obvious and can be easily identified by other people, whereas source traits are less visible to other people and appear to underlie several different aspects of behavior. Cattell regarded source traits are more important in describing personality than surface traits.

Cattell produced a personality test similar to the EPI that measured each of the sixteen traits. The 16PF (16 Personality Factors Test) has 160 questions in total, 10 questions relating to each personality factor.

Allport's Trait Theory

Allport's theory of personality emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the internal cognitive and motivational processes that influence behavior. For example, intelligence, temperament, habits, skills, attitudes, and traits.

Allport (1937) believes that personality is biologically determined at birth, and shaped by a person's environmental experience.

Critical Evaluation of Trait Theories

Twin studies can be used to see if personality is genetic. However, the findings are conflicting and non-conclusive.

Shields (1976) found that monozygotic (identical) twins were significantly more alike on the Introvert – Extrovert (E) and Psychoticism (P) dimensions than dizygotic (non-identical) twins.

Loehlin, Willerman and Horn (1988) found that only 50% of the variations of scores on personality dimensions are due to inherited traits. This suggests that social factors are also important.

Authoritarian Personality

Adorno et al. (1950) proposed that prejudice is the results of an individual’s personality type.

They piloted and developed a questionnaire, which they called the F-scale (F for fascism). Adorno argued that deep-seated personality traits predisposed some individuals to be highly sensitive to totalitarian and antidemocratic ideas and therefore were prone to be highly prejudicial.  The evidence they gave to support this conclusion included:

• Case studies, e.g. Nazis
• Psychometric testing (use of the F-scale)
• Clinical interviews revealed situational aspects of their childhood, such as the fact that they had been brought up by very strict parents or guardians, which were found of participants who scored highly on the F-scale not always found in the backgrounds of low scorers.

Those with an authoritarian personality tended to be:

• Hostile to those who are of inferior status, but obedient of people with high status

• Fairly rigid in their opinions and beliefs

• Conventional, upholding traditional values

Adorno concluded that people with authoritarian personalities were more likely to categorize people into “us” and “them” groups, seeing their own group as superior. Therefore, the study indicated that individuals with a very strict upbringing by critical and harsh parents were most likely to develop an authoritarian personality. 

Adorno believed that this was because the individual in question was not able to express hostility towards their parents (for being strict and critical).  Consequently, the person would then displace this aggression / hostility onto safer targets, namely those who are weaker, such as ethnic minorities.

Adorno et al. felt that authoritarian traits, as identified by the F-Scale, predispose some individuals towards 'fascistic' characteristics such as:

• Ethnocentrism, i.e. the tendency to favor one's own ethnic group:

• Obsession with rank and status

• Respect for and submissiveness to authority figures

• Preoccupation with power and toughness.

In other words, according to Adorno, the Eichmanns of this world are there because they have authoritarian personalities and therefore are predisposed cruelty, as a result of their upbringing.

There is evidence that the authoritarian personality exists. This might help to explain why some people are more resistant to changing their prejudiced views.

Critical Evaluation

There are many weaknesses in Adorno’s explanation of prejudice:

• Harsh parenting style does not always produce prejudice children / individuals

• Some prejudice people do not conform to the authoritarian personality type.

• Doesn’t explain why people are prejudiced against certain groups and not others.

Furthermore, the authoritarian explanation of prejudice does not explain how whole social groups (e.g. the Nazis) can be prejudiced. This would mean that all members of a group (e.g. Nazis) would have an authoritarian personality, which is quite unlikely.

Cultural or social norms would seem to offer a better explanation of prejudice and conflict than personality variables. Adorno has also been criticized for his limited sample. Also, Hyman and Sheatsley (1954) found that lower educational level was probably a better explanation of high F-scale scores than an authoritarian.

References

Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper and Row (pp. 228).

Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: H. Holt and. Company.

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Cattell, R. B. (1965). The scientific analysis of personality. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Eysenck, H. J. (1952). The scientific study of personality.

Eysenck, H. J. (1966). Personality and experimental psychology. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society.

Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality (Vol. 689). Transaction publishers.

Eysenck, H. J. (1982). Personality, genetics, and behavior: Selected papers.

Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7.

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.

Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

Hyman, H. H., & Sheatsley, P. (1956). Attitudes Toward Desegregation. Scientific American, 195:35-39.

Loehlin, J. C., Willerman, L., & Horn, J. M. (1988). Human behavior genetics. Annual Review of Psychology, 39(1), 101-133.

Pervin, L. A. (1993). Personality: Theory and research. John Wiley & Sons.

Shields, J. (1976). Heredity and environment. In A textbook of human psychology (pp. 145-160). Springer Netherlands.

Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (1999). Personality and sport. Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25-46.

How to cite this article:

McLeod, S. A. (2014). Theories of Personality. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/personality-theories.html

EFFECTS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Substance Abuse - refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. Psychoactive substance use can lead to dependence syndrome - a cluster of behavioural, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state. 

The substance abuse results in physical, psychological, emotional harm to the user or others.

Substance abuse is rare before the teenage years.

Most frequently abused substances include:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• marijuana
• hashish
• over-the-counter drugs such as dextromethorphan and pseudoephedrine
• benzodiazepines like Ativan and Valium
• stimulants: methamphetamine or cocaine
• club drugs: Ecstasy, ketamine, MDA, or Rohypnol
• hallucinogens: LSD, mushrooms
• inhalants: glue, lighter fluid, gasoline, or paint thinner
• narcotic painkillers: codeine and morphine​

What is the “substance” in substance abuse?

Substance typically refers to the pathological use of a medication or non-medically indicated drug or toxin, which results in repeated adverse social consequences. The National Institute on Drug Abuselists the following substances as possible agents for abuse:

Alcohol Club Drugs Cocaine Heroin Inhalants LSD (Acid) Marijuana

MDMA (Ecstasy) Methamphetamine PCP/Phencyclidine Prescription Medications Steroids (Anabolic) Tobacco Addiction

• Signs and symptoms 

Your teenager may try to hide his substance abuse from you. But there are some signs and behaviours that may indicate your child is using drugs, chemicals, or alcohol. These signs are most often noticed as a change in your child's typical behaviour towards school, family, and friends. Areas where a change in behaviour are most noticeable may include:

Changed attitude or success in school

Drug abuse may be occuring if your child:

• starts missing more classes than usual without a good reason
• seems to care less about marks or school activities
• has an unexplained drop in grades

Behavioural changes

Teenagers like to be independent. They need their privacy. However, if your child shows any of the following signs, he could be hiding a drug or alcohol problem:

• major change in behaviour
• major change in how he interacts with family members
• preventing family members from knowing about their friends or where they are going

Change in the need for cash

Another sign of substance abuse is the unexplained need for extra cash. Your child might not be able to explain where he is spending the money. You may notice cash missing from home or valuable items disappearing.

Change in self-care and appearance

Normally, teenagers are very concerned with the way they look. They strive to look their best. If your child lacks interest in clothing, hygiene, grooming, or looks, this may be a sign of substance abuse.

Change in level of energy

There may be a change in your child’s general health. Some signs include:

• poor energy levels
• getting too much or too little sleep
• decrease in motivation

Physical signs and symptoms

Physical signs and symptoms depend on the drug your child may be abusing. For example, if your child is abusing marijuana or hashish, you may notice the following symptoms:

• delayed reaction time
• red eyes
• poor concentration and memory
• increased appetite
• paranoid thinking (also a sign of mental health disease)

Speak to your doctor for signs and symptoms associated with other drugs.

Causes of substance Use and Abuse

Substance abuse can have many causes. For most teenagers, curiosity and peer pressure leads to their first drug experience. It is natural for teenagers like to engage in risky behaviour. They do it for excitement or to fit in with their peers.

Some teenagers find that marijuana or other drugs can help relieve anxiety or depression, which is known as 'self-medication'. Other drugs like Ecstacy or cocaine offer a jolt of energy and heightened sensation. They may offer a short-term escape from conflicts in life. Substance abuse can occur when teenagers use drugs, a coping strategy to deal with their emotional problems.

Being around family members or peers that encourage drug use may influence your child’s substance abuse. Many studies show that once your child starts using a drugs, genetic factors may influence whether they develop an addiction.

Complications

Substance abuse can have long-term physical and psychological effects. The complications vary depending on the substance abused.

The effects of substance abuse can be felt on many levels: on the individual, on friends and family, and on society.

On the Individual

People who use drugs experience a wide array of physical effects other than those expected. The excitement of a cocaine high, for instance, is followed by a "crash": a period of anxiety, fatigue, depression, and an acute desire for more cocaine to alleviate the feelings of the crash. Marijuana and alcohol interfere with motor control and are factors in many automobile accidents. Users of marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs may experience flashbacks, unwanted recurrences of the drug's effects weeks or months after use. Sudden abstinence from certain drugs results in withdrawal symptoms. For example, heroin withdrawal can cause vomiting, muscle cramps, convulsions, and delirium. With the continued use of a physically addictive drug, tolerance develops; i.e., constantly increasing amounts of the drug are needed to duplicate the initial effect. Sharing hypodermic needles used to inject some drugs dramatically increases the risk of contracting AIDS and some types of hepatitis. In addition, increased sexual activity among drug users, both in prostitution and from the dis-inhibiting effect of some drugs, also puts them at a higher risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Because the purity and dosage of illegal drugs are uncontrolled, drug overdose is a constant risk. There are over 10,000 deaths directly attributable to drug use in the United States every year; the substances most frequently involved are cocaine, heroin, and morphine, often combined with alcohol or other drugs. Many drug users engage in criminal activity, such as burglary and prostitution, to raise the money to buy drugs, and some drugs, especially alcohol, are associated with violent behavior.

Effects on the Family

The user's preoccupation with the substance, plus its effects on mood and performance, can lead to marital problems and poor work performance or dismissal. Drug use can disrupt family life and create destructive patterns of codependency, that is, the spouse or whole family, out of love or fear of consequences, inadvertently enables the user to continue using drugs by covering up, supplying money, or denying there is a problem. Pregnant drug users, because of the drugs themselves or poor self-care in general, bear a much higher rate of low birth-weight babies than the average. Many drugs (e.g., crack and heroin) cross the placental barrier, resulting in addicted babies who go through withdrawal soon after birth, and fetal alcohol syndrome can affect children of mothers who consume alcohol during pregnancy. Pregnant women who acquire the AIDS virus through intravenous drug use pass the virus to their infant.

Effects on Society

Drug abuse affects society in many ways. In the workplace it is costly in terms of lost work time and inefficiency. Drug users are more likely than nonusers to have occupational accidents, endangering themselves and those around them. Over half of the highway deaths in the United States involve alcohol. Drug-related crime can disrupt neighborhoods due to violence among drug dealers, threats to residents, and the crimes of the addicts themselves. In some neighborhoods, younger children are recruited as lookouts and helpers because of the lighter sentences given to juvenile offenders, and guns have become commonplace among children and adolescents. The great majority of homeless people have either a drug or alcohol problem or a mental illness—many have all three.

PREVENTION:

Most children will be offered drugs, alcohol, or chemicals at some point in their lives. More than two-thirds of high school students in Ontario used alcohol at least once over the previous year. One-third used marijuana or hashish over the previous year.

Alcohol and drugs can make teenagers less inhibited. They may be more likely to engage in risky behaviour or have unprotected sex. For these reasons, the best prevention for substance abuse is as follows:

Talk to your teen

Tell your children about the physical, psychological, and social harms of drug, alcohol, and chemical abuse.

Be a good listener

When your children share their fears and experiences, be a patient listener. Try not to judge. Encourage your child to resist substance abuse. Brainstorm ways they can “say no” to drugs.

Be a role model

Be a responsible parent. Do not abuse drugs or alcohol. When you drink alcohol, do not drink too much. Children of parents who smoke or abuse drugs are more likely to become addicted to cigarettes or drugs.

Spend time with your children

If you and your child have a secure relationship, your child is less likely to abuse drugs.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

Like many college students, Jeremy likes to go out with his friends and drink alcohol. They have a good time, and everyone knows that Jeremy's always up for a party. But a few of the people closest to him have started worrying that perhaps he has a drinking problem. Are they right? Is Jeremy addicted? Or, is he just having a good time like other college students?

Substance abuse, meanwhile, is when a person consumes alcohol or drugs regularly, despite the fact that it causes issues in their life. The issues caused by abuse may be related to their job, their personal life, or even their safety. People who abuse drugs and alcohol continue to consume them, regardless of the consequences. Last month, Jeremy's girlfriend threatened to break up with him because he drank too much and was mean to her when he did. Instead of using that as a warning sign, he kept drinking and lost his girlfriend. This is an example of substance abuse: He continues to drink, even though there are consequences.







REFERENCES:

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/drug-addiction-drug-abuse-effects-substance-abuse.html

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/en/healthaz/conditionsanddiseases/behaviouralandemotionalproblems/pages/substanceabuse.aspx

https://ncadd.org/for-youth/prevention-tips
http://www.who.int/topics/substance_abuse/en/
http://study.com/academy/lesson/substance-use-abuse-and-dependence-definition-and-causes-of-substance-disorders.html