Transcript Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol

Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol
In Adolescence
Michael Hoerger
Sex Facts
25% by age 14
 50% by age 17
 90% by age 21
 Pregnancy before age 16:
Increased risk of complications
 1/6 couples are infertile, primarily due to
untreated STIs

Sexually Transmitted Infections
Higher risk in adolescence due to weaker
immune systems, multiple partners, not
using condoms
 Most with STIs have no symptoms
 Curable: Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis
 Life-long: Herpes, HPV, HIV
 > 50% lifetime STI rate
 25% lifetime herpes rate (90% w/o signs)

Sex Myths
“I can’t get pregnant”
 Preventing STIs is effective if…
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Using birth control pills, pulling out/showering/
brushing teeth/peeing, not having noticeable
signs, seeming like a “nice person”
Preventing Pregnancy is effective if…
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Sex during menstruation, showering
Early pregnancy OR abortion have drastic
negative long-term outcomes
 Abstinence programs are most effective

Drugs
“Here and everywhere else, we all use
drugs: aspirin; coffee; tea; vitamins. How
do we define a drug? That’s become a
political concept too. It’s no longer a
pharmacological concept. Caffeine is
certainly one of the most powerful drugs;
Coca-Cola Company fills its drinks full of
caffeine and it is being sold to children in
schools and they become hyperactive.
Wonder of wonders!” – Szasz
Drugs

Gateway drugs:
cigarettes, alcohol, and
marijuana; increase risk
for harder drug use
Drugs
Minor drug or alcohol use is normal;
related to better long-term psychological
outcomes than no use
 Alcohol: impairs decision making
(15x the risk for car accidents)
 Tobacco: stunts growth, highly addictive
 Marijuana: slows thinking and reasoning

Harder Drugs
Cocaine (stimulant): heart and respiratory
problems, paranoia, overdose
 Heroin (opioid): overdose
 Most problems result from these drugs
being illegal
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Turf wars, stealing/fencing to afford drugs,
intravenous drug use, withdrawal
$100 of heroin could be made for pennies/day
Stimulants like caffeine, Ritalin, nicotine,
and cocaine differ mainly in degree
Drugs and Discrimination
“We do our bodies more damage, more
irreversible damage, by smoking
cigarettes and drinking liquor than by
using heroin” – Reiman
 “To cast the problem of psychiatric drug
use into the problem of drug use in
general is more honest and realistic and
should enable each person to make a
more informed choice” – Lewontin et al.
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Drugs and Discrimination
Marijuana laws began in the 1930s to
discriminate against Mexican Americans
 Cocaine became popular among the white
upper class in the 1970s; crack among low
SES in the 1980s
 Mandatory 5-year sentence for
500 grams of powder cocaine
OR 5 grams of crack
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Crack offenders:
86% black, 5% white
Michael Hoerger
To cite this lecture:
 Hoerger, M. (2007, March 12). Sex,
Drugs, and Alcohol. Presented at a PSY
220 lecture at Central Michigan University.