ABSTRACT
Adolescent drug use is placed in an historical and developmental perspective. This chapter provides a program of research which could provide credible evidence to support or rebut these propositions, and addresses the factual claims underlying the sociomoral concerns of social policy planners. It examines a variety of issues relevant to possible adverse consequences of drug use in young adolescents with respect to Developmental Lag; Amotivational Syndrome; and Psychosocial Dysfunction. The chapter argues that drug use in adolescence interferes with the process of stage-sequential development. The developmental stresses experienced in contemporary social contexts by middle-class youths may well predispose a majority of them to experiment with mood-altering and consciousness-altering substances. Young adolescents experiencing the anticipatory stress of entering a constricted labor market were less likely to value risk-taking for its own sake. The core developmental task at adolescence is to negotiate the transition to adult life.
