Alcohol Abuse in Adolescents: Relevance of Animal Models and Experimental Results in Adolescent Animals

CAMARINI R; PAUTASSI RM

Drug Abuse in Adolescence. Neurobiological, Cognitive, and Psychological Issues

Springer

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2016; p. 101 - 112

This chapter reviews studies comparing the effects of drugs on adolescents and adults. The disorders associated with drug dependence usually start in adolescence or early adulthood. Among the significant consequences of drug use in adolescence is a higher risk of abuse and dependence in adulthood. The aim of this chapter is to describe the main studies on the behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and functional differences between adolescents and adults and to correlate such differences with the higher vulnerability of adolescents to dependence. The hypothesis that adolescents might exhibit an idiosyncratic pattern of reactivity to ethanol that might expose them to higher risk of use/abuse, with alcohol also serving as a gateway for other drugs, is also assessed. The focus of this chapter is alcohol because it is one of the drugs most widely used by adolescents.