Research Proposal on "Drug Abuse Impact on School-Aged Children"

Research Proposal 5 pages (1382 words) Sources: 10 August 24, 2019

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Impact of Drug Abuse on School Children Aged 10 to 18 in Developed Countries

Introduction/Background of Study

In developed countries around the world, drug abuse among school children between the ages of 10 and 18 has increased. The UN (2018) has reported that “most research suggests that early (12–14 years old) to late (15–17 years old) adolescence is a critical risk period for the initiation of substance use” (p. 15). Cannabis use among youths is the most common form of drug abuse and the effects of this drug on the young, developing mind suggest that it can cause long term damage (Grant & Belanger, 2017). For that reason, this is a significant public health problem. The population involved in this study is the young school age population—children ages 10 to 18—and the setting is in developed countries. The extent of the problem is considerable as there is an opioid epidemic in the West (Murthy, 2016) and the legalization of cannabis is opening the door to make drug usage more acceptable among younger people (Chu, 2015). The most affected population is thus the young school child of the developed world who is entering an environment where drugs are more common and more socially accepted, which puts that child at greater risk.

Objective/Aim of Study

The aim of this study is to find out what the actual impact of drug abuse on this population is in the developed world. As there are two conflicting narratives emerging—one from the social world, which sees marijuana as a positive substance, and one from the medical world, which sees it as a risk—it is important to understand the actual issues and what is at stake in terms of the impact of drug abuse on the population. The aim is to collect information on this subject and organize it so as to understand what consensus opinions and facts are saying.

Extent of the Problem

The problem is extensive as it impacts all school-aged children in the developed world, who are being confronted with a landscape that has changed socially in recent years towards being more accepting of drug use. This acceptance can easily lead to drug abuse and other risky behavior as Lo, Tse, Cheng & Chan (2019) have shown. The problem is global and is even noticeable in third worlds, such as Ethiopia, where school children are abusing inhalants in order to get a high (Tsegaye, 2016). Clearly there is a need for some action to address this issue.

Research Questions

The research questions are: 1) what is the impact of drug abuse on school children aged 10 to 18 in developed countries? 2) what can be done to address this issue and prevent damage to this population if damage is in fact occurring?

Most Affected/Most Vulnerable Population

The most affected population, according to the UN (2018) is the population of young adults aged 18-24; however, the most vulnerable population is the population of young students aged 12-18.

Relevance of the Topic/Why it is a Significant Public Health Problem

This topic is relevant because it relates to the youth of developed countries and thus to the future health of these same countries. As goes the health of the youth, so goes the health of the future community. Young people who engage in drug abuse not only harm themselves but they also harm society by putting undue stress and costs on communities through a number of ways (Goodchild, Nargis & d'Espaignet, 2018)—whether it is through increased jailing, enforcement, clean-up, health care, or so on (Jiang, Lee, Lee & Pickard, 2017).

Description of the Population and Setting

The population for this study is youth in schoools aged 10 to 18 and the setting is that of developed countries around the world. This would include the U.S., Canada, France, England, Germany, Italy, Russia, Australia, Japan and China.

Search Strategies/Methodology

The databases that will be used to find the articles will include ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, and Sage because these are the most common databases where scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles are published and made available. They can be found by using a browser like Google Scholar or by going directly to the databases themselves and searching for articles published on this subject.… READ MORE

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