ABSTRACT
Drug abuse includes addiction, habituation, and drug misuse. In searching for the causes of drug abuse and other socially dysfunctional behavior patterns researchers have found that the teenagers who are most likely to be treated for drug abuse, arrested for delinquency, treated for psychological illness. The prevention of drug abuse depends on the socialization of children and adolescents into the basic social competencies required to manage relationships and one’s own inner experiences. Healthy social development and the acquisition of social competencies depend on the formation of meaningfully interdependent relationships with adults, older and younger children, and peers. The development of the basic social competencies is vital to the prevention of drug abuse. One of the major roots of drug abuse is the failure of society to socialize its children successfully. In cooperative interaction with peers, the role of “leader” becomes an important social role for children and adolescents to adopt.
